AN ARCADIAN CALENDAR 



Bird of character. He is so strangely lacking in the 

 Harvest bird-graces, and is such a picture of in- 

 dolence as he sits for long, idle spells on the 

 cornfield's hedge. When he flies, on an undulating 

 course, with a whirr of wings, the wing-beats are 

 laboured and intermittent, as if he will not make one 

 more than necessary, and the lazy effect is heightened 

 by the way the legs hang down. He seems even bored 

 by his own song; beginning it vigorously, he soon 

 ends it in a confused medley, as if many notes were 

 uttered at once. Yet we like the bunting. He seems to 

 take such a languorous joy in sunshine, and somehow 

 his splintered notes are in pleasing harmony with sun- 

 drenched cornfields. 



THE nimble little harvest mouse seems to deserve 

 better luck than it has in this life, for it is 

 An All- among the most capable of beasties an 

 round expert nest-builder, a gymnast that can run 



Mouse down a corn-stem with the help of its 

 grasping tail, a skilled fly-fisher withal a 

 thrifty character with a habit of storing grain. Then it 

 is fortunate in finding winter harbourage in stacks. It is 

 little in our thoughts in winter or, indeed, in summer 

 either, since it is so small and swift that it escapes 

 notice, in spite of the bright fawn of its topcoat. But 

 now and then it is found in winter, asleep in a bird's 

 nest. There is evidence that at times the mice will make 

 homes for themselves, as they have been found sleeping 

 among reeds in warbler-like nests cunningly placed at 

 a height safe from rising waters. 



To many beside gamekeepers there is a deep interest in 

 104 



