156 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



There is a detached ash tree in the field by the 

 copse; it stands apart, and about sixty or seventy 

 yards from the garden. A cuckoo came to this ash 

 every morning, and called there for an hour at a time, 

 his notes echoing along the building, one following 

 the other as wavelets roll on the summer sands. 

 After awhile two more used to appear, and then there 

 was a chase round the copse, up to the tallest birch, 

 and out to the ash tree again. This went on day 

 after day, and was repeated every evening. Flying 

 from the ash to the copse and returning, the birds 

 were constantly in sight ; they sometimes passed 

 over the house, and the call became so familiar that 

 it was not regarded any more than the chirp of a 

 sparrow. Till the very last the cuckoos remained 

 there, and never ceased to be heard till they left to 

 cross the seas. 



That was the cuckoos' season; next spring they 

 returned again, but much later than usual, and did 

 not call so much, nor were they seen so often while 

 they were there. One was calling in the copse on the 

 evening of the 6th of May as late as half-past eight, 

 while the moon was shining. But they were not so 

 prominent ; and as for the missel-thrushes, I did not 

 hear them at all in the copse. It was the wood- 

 pigeons' year. Thus the birds come in succession 

 and reign by turns. 



Even the starlings vary, regular as they are by 

 habit. This season (1881) none have whistled on 

 the house-top. In previous years they have always 

 come, and only the preceding spring a pair filled the 

 gutter with the materials of their nest- Long after 



