ON PLAIN AND PEAK 



Nature is seen at her best at two periods in the 

 twenty-four hours sunset and dawn. And at no 

 season of the year is she more attractive than in the 

 spring. 



The Birkhuhn^ or " Birch-fowl," as the blackcock 

 is called in German, takes its name from the fact 

 that a birch-copse is one of the most favourite haunts 

 of the bird. A j'dger proverb has it, too, that the 

 mating season, or Balzen, of the blackcock, comes 

 with the first tender buds that adorn the silvery- 

 stemmed " Lady-of- the- wood." 



No bird possesses more curious characteristics 

 than the blackcock. From the time when he for- 

 sakes the maternal wing (paternal authority never 

 troubled him ! ) the young Birkhuhn entirely eschews 

 female society. In the autumn he joins a little band 

 of bachelor friends, and passes the winter comfortably 

 and happily in their companionship. But, with the 

 last week of March, the ladies begin to exercise their 

 influence, and love casts the apple of discord among 

 the hitherto peaceable community. 



The blackcock then betakes himself, at the first 

 streak of dawn, to some open glade or clearing, 

 where he shows off his glossy plumage, warbles his 

 inharmonious love song, and fights desperately for 

 the possession of the soft grey-plumaged hens who 

 sit quietly by, watching the conflict. 



There is nothing more ludicrous than the antics of 



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