THE FAERY YEAR 



while at a wooded spot and hear three or four robins 

 singing at the same time within a radius of twenty 

 or thirty yards. The danker, mistier the day, the 

 more the robins seem to sing. A favourite place is 

 the edge of some wood along a lonely roadside 

 banked and ditched deeply. It is hard to say 

 whether all or the majority of these singers are 

 natives, or whether there is among them a large 

 sprinkling of autumn visitors from the Continent. 

 By now most of the young robins of the year have 

 gone through their moult and have red-brown breasts 

 like their parents, if a little paler ; and it is quite 

 likely that these have already begun to sing. 



The robins are said to drive away their young 

 when these can shift for themselves, but I believe the 

 robin after all is more tolerant than various English 

 birds which have not this reputation for jealousy ; 

 the pied wagtail is most intolerant, scolding and 

 buffeting wagtails which come to his lawn, and 

 chasing off other birds of about his own size. 



Pastime of Animals 



One effect of soft autumn days, or of the crisp, 

 brilliant weather we sometimes enjoy now and later 

 in the year, is to fill many birds with frolic. Relaxa- 

 tion certainly plays a part in the lives of many wild 

 creatures. An intimate account of animal games by 

 a life-long watcher and reporter of them would be 

 delicious the temper of the sport, the incentive, the 

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