84 THE RING OF NATURE 



with turnips when the fresh greenery of the year 

 is well under weigh. 



Sometimes a green or brown caterpillar is found 

 curled up under the slug trap. It is a grub of last 

 year that has hibernated somehow in the cold 

 ground, and is anxious to begin eating again. 

 The tiny new caterpillars of the year must be very 

 far to seek, and they are certainly not very satisfying 

 when they are found. But the birds from over 

 the sea do not wait till the tide of insect life is full, 

 so anxious are they to return to the groves of dear 

 old England. They are ready to starve a little 

 rather than let their great work get ahead of them, 

 and in a very few days now they will be here with 

 their dainty songs and spruce overseas manner. 



Hark ! The great tit again, singing his swinging 

 song to let you know that even an all-day work- 

 man has breath to give praise. But it is not 

 ' Peter, Peter ' he is calling, unless you allow that 

 name to be accented equally on each syllable. 

 Nor is the bird the great tit that skips mouse-like 

 among the brown twigs of the oak, sending down 

 now and then a tiny scale that the swelling leaf- 

 bud has done with. It is a dainty brown bird 

 countershaded with pearl and of a slim elegance 

 that our winters do not nourish. And its song, 

 which for a moment sounded like ' Peter, Peter,' 

 is ' Chiff-chaff, Chiffy-chaffy, Chiff-chaff.' The 

 little brown bird is the first of many summer 

 songsters from over the sea. 



