SONGS BEFORE SPRING 



SONGS BEFORE SPRING 



A CROWD of gay birds means much in a flowerless 

 January garden, and where goldfinches 

 A Charm haunt a neighbourhood the gardener may 

 of be well rewarded if he plants ornamental 



Goldfinches thistles, or hemp, or flax, as a goldfinch 

 lure. Time was when a pair of these finches 

 nested in every orchard, where in spring the courting 

 cock would be seen spreading his wings to show off 

 their gold to admiring eyes; but now the " gool finch," 

 to use one old rustic gardener's name, is unfortunately 

 a very local bird. Winter flocks, gay in feathers the 

 hens as bright as the cocks and as lively in voice and 

 motion were called by our fathers " a charm of gold- 

 finches " just as a rookery was described as " a building 

 of rooks," and a starling pack " a murmuration." 



CANARY-HUED yellow hammers are among the showiest 

 of our hedge-birds, and do much to 

 Yellow brighten the dull waysides of January, 

 Yowley especially as now the last year's nestlings 

 are putting on their bright coats. They court 

 and pair betimes, and will be singing within a few weeks, 

 and it is further to their credit that they sing their 

 monotonous chant for a remarkably long period, from 

 February until far into August. It seems a pity, by the 

 way, that the name, yellow hammer, should be estab- 

 lished, with its superfluous " h " (being derived from 

 the German "goldammer," or gold bunting), when 

 we have a variety of provincial names, like yellow 

 yowley, yeldring, goldie, and yellow stammer, from the 

 stuttering song. In the North, this bird has incurred the 



