ANTHEM OF THE WILLOW WRENS 



element decidedly prevails. The redbreast is the 

 most pathetic singer among English birds. This is 

 the effect on the hearer ; of course, one cannot infer 

 that the redbreasts, pipits, or willow wrens are sad 

 on the contrary, probably their songs are songs 

 purely of pride and pleasure. 



The redbreast song is notable for its drawn-out 

 strain of pathos the lark for rhapsody the wind 

 thrush for revelry the song thrush for painstaking, 

 deliberate phrasing the blackbird for a certain 

 insouciance, mellow perfection the wren for merri- 

 ment the blackcap for wild waywardness, romance 

 the chaffinch, I was going to say for commonplace ; 

 only if he is commonplace, give it me in abundance 

 in June. 



But for the deep sustained note of passion we 

 look to the nightingale and the ringdove. Of the 

 two, I incline to think the ringdove's is the intenser. 

 Few sights, by the way, are prettier at this time of 

 year than that of the ringdoves' billing. They will 

 straddle along a branch and bow for ten minutes at 

 a stretch, and give swift, soft pecks at each other's 

 necks and heads, a flirtation of feathers which one 

 can now see well before the leaf grants the lovers a 

 shelter. 



An Intimate of the Soil 



The "farmers' ordinary" on market-day at the 

 George or the Lion is for the more considerable 

 men. There you look for strapping, rubicund men, 



95 



