AUTUMN BIRD LIFE 249 



you that he remembers the day when he did not 

 know that such creatures were in existence ; and 

 now their metallic hues are as familiar to him as 

 the black livery of the rook, or the lighter shades 

 of the gull. 



Daintily picking his way along, with a run, he 

 is one of the running birds, and a pause, is a single 

 pied wagtail ; thus showing that he does not quite 

 desert us in winter. " The grey " will be found by 

 anyone who is curious enough to cross the dyke to 

 the stream beyond. 



With a clatter of wings, and a headlong flight, 

 not unlike the curlew's, some heavy birds issue 

 from the strip of wood to the left, and light on the 

 turnip-field on the opposite side of .the road. The 

 white patch on either side of the neck, though it 

 meets neither above nor below, proclaims them 

 ring-doves. The slaty blue back, and pink flush on 

 the breast, complete the picture. These are they 

 whose melancholy love notes breathe an air of 

 sadness over the hushed summer landscapes : then 

 they are scattered in pairs. In winter they gather 

 into flocks, and in hard weather visit the turnip- 

 fields to feed on the leaves. 



A flock of chaffinches are busy among the straw 

 of some open potato-pits. They are nearly, though 



