THE MUSIC OF MARCH 



admit that the early morning and evening per- 

 formances are the finest. 



The cool of the day inspires birds with a richer 

 lay. Later on in the season birds will cease to sing 

 if the weather grows very hot ; but I have often 

 noticed that the music will begin again when the 

 days grow cooler and cloudier. The cessation of 

 song among English singing birds in August and 

 September (till the redbreast strikes up) is due 

 to other causes than the heat. I am thinking 

 rather of the end of June and the whole of July. 

 If the blackcap sings then, it is in the cool coppices ; 

 if the thrushes and blackbirds, it is at dawn and 

 dusk only. But it is on a wild wet morning that 

 the bird concert at this time of year is at its best. 

 The thrushes and blackbirds love the driving scour 

 and the wind-rocked tree. 



Cock Wrens' Nests 



The common wren is the only English bird 

 I know the male of which builds on his own 

 account a nest complete save for a trifle of feathers. 

 Some nests of wrens, holding eggs and young, 

 have no lining beyond the invariable inner felting 

 of moss, but in other cases feathers are added, 

 though not in plenty ; and feathers I have not 

 seen a male wren bring to his nest. Otherwise, 

 the male wren nest is often as refined a bit of 

 work as a bird of this species can make which 



