viii THE RING OF NATURE 



FEBRUARY II 

 ST. VALENTINE"^ DAY 



PAGE 



Town wood-pigeons Sky-high gulls Quarrelsome 

 sparrows Origin of St. Valentine's Day Elm blossom 

 Love-lighted doves Truculent moor-hens The battle 

 of the dingle A rabbit hunt Dog-and-rabbit curve 

 Wisdom in the circus February Fair Maids Terrible 

 chaffinches 37 



MARCH I 



CATKIN TIME 



The alder and its catkins Ladies must not be kept 

 waiting The impatient lamb's tail The smoking yew 

 Sulphurous rain The widow o' 'Lombardy' The bee- 

 loved willows How to make bees The mother bees- 

 Resurrected butterflies The spirit of Spring . . 50 



MARCH II 



BEES HUMBLE AND OTHERWISE 



How many humble-bees? The New Zealand story 

 The two redtails Sixty and yet more Cuckoo humble- 

 bees The mark of the robber ' Hairy-legs ' ' Mrs. 

 Hairy-legs ' and her cuckoo The cuckoo's cuckoo The 

 golden Andrena The mark of the wasp Better than 

 cold storage Study for a lifetime ..... 60 



APRIL I 



SONGS TO THE SUN 



The ox-eye and his congeners From caw to chatter 

 Thrush and blackbird Bread, cheese, and ginger-beer 

 The exuberant wren How the lark sings The ill- 

 treated peewit The crooning in the pool A mixed 

 assembly Some spawning habits An instrumentalist 

 How to catch slugs The little brown bird ... 73 



