THE FAERY YEAR 



in pursuit of beetle or humble bee in the wayside 

 turf. The shrike is a singer, and his notes are said 

 to be sweet ; but one may watch these birds, season 

 after season, at their arrival in the spring, during 

 their nesting, and later, without hearing their song. 

 I have watched them constantly several summers 

 running, and from time to time for many years past, 

 and have never heard one note of the shrike song. 

 I think he must be quite an uncommon singer. 

 The redstart's song, so charming and delicate, is 

 also uncommon ; so, I think, is the whinchat's ; 

 probably many people who know both these birds 

 well enough by sight have never heard either of 

 them sing. The stonechat, too, is somewhat 

 obscure as a singer, but this because his song, 

 though constant in the spring and early summer, is 

 short and faint. 



Miniature Flower Life 



The downs repay a visit early in the September 

 night, when Arcturus flashes sapphire one moment, 

 amber the next, and Saturn, with his sudden glow, 

 is succeeding Mars in the south sky. A few hours 

 sooner, too, they are full of charm, when the sun, 

 alighting on their rim, wears that singular aspect 

 of being not a body at all, but a round window, 

 through which one may look into a dazzling world 

 beyond. These are the scenes of majesty and 

 mystery in down-land. In the halcyon mornings 

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