WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



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 i 



SPRING BIRD LIFE 



OjPRING awakens under the eaves, whence, in 

 the dark mornings, conies a twittering, like 

 the stirrings of a household from sleep. A know- 

 ing and familiar whistle tells that the starlings are 

 back again ; and a succession of guttural sounds, 

 repeated as fast as they are able, seem to say that 

 they are just about to begin. The starling, being a 

 mimic by nature, it is easy to assign many of his 

 notes to their proper owner. 



When it is just getting light at seven o'clock, 

 the voice of the missel-thrush breaks in upon our 

 waking sense, with the pleasant tale that the 

 season of waiting is past. He is called storm-cock, 

 because the song fills up the intervals of the early 



