156 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



whose sudden song we have often heard from a hedge, 

 when driving at night, the rumble of our wheels or 

 the lights of our lamps having aroused him from his 

 dreams. 



But do birds dream ? We think they do, like dogs 

 and other animals. They will flutter uneasily in their 

 sleep, and twitter, just as one would expect them to do 

 if dreaming. The caged bird fluttering in its sleep may 

 be dreaming, at the season of migration, of another 

 land to which it would be flying if free. The bird 

 that sings a little song in its sleep is dreaming perhaps 

 of a fine feast off succulent insects, or, who knows ? of 

 love. 



Bold lohcn nesting 



"In the season of nesting the wildest birds are comparatively 

 tame. Thus the ring-dove breeds in my fields, though they are 

 continually frequented ; and the missel-thrush, though most shy and 

 wild in the autumn and winter, builds in my garden close to a walk 

 where people are passing all day long." 



