l 



CHAPTER XVII 



FIRST WEEK IN MAY 



EARLY in the morning (which, face Browning, begins 

 at four, not seven, by this time), before the sun rises, 

 we may hear the birds' Overture to Spring. 

 First of all there is a soft susurrus of many wings, mingled 

 with low whispered notes from the waking birds, like the 

 tuning up of the instruments, which quickly swells to a 

 volume of sound from all the birds in the garden. 



Then the thrush, which builds in the honeysuckle below 

 the window, starts his solo, accompanied by the rest as a 

 chorus, trying first one and then another phrase, and calling 

 loudly for Philipine ! Philipine ! Philipine ! from the 

 topmost bough of the fir-tree 



"Lest we should think he never can recapture 

 His first fine careless rapture." 



Individual thrushes vary greatly in the beauty and richness 

 of their song, but all possess many pure and liquid notes. 

 There is a bird which sings from the woods in the valley 

 below (probably a scarlet and green woodpecker, for there 

 are many in that glen) with a song like falling water 

 poured from a height ; the wood-doves, too, add their 

 gentle notes, and the blackbird's deep trill is noticeable 

 amongst the many distinct notes in the concert. 



Probably the whole overture is played by the birds which 

 have roosted on some branch near the nest where the mother- 

 birds cover the nestlings with their wings, and these young 

 things do not awake quite so early in consequence ; but the 



