BRIDAL DAYS 



BRIDAL DAYS 



THE nesting-time of the owls has set in, but nest- 

 building is an absent instinct they scorn 

 Owls 1 feather-beds. The little owl is content with 



Nests a ledge in a tree's hollow; the brown owl 



will lay almost anywhere, in tree-holes, on 

 the ground, in cliffs, or, like a sheldrake, in a rabbit's 

 burrow. The long-eared owl has good cause to lay its 

 eggs betimes, since it occupies another's nest. It must 

 be a shock to a pair of sparrow-hawks, when they 

 return to their last year's nest, a month after owls have 

 taken possession, to find installed a family of angry- 

 eyed, hissing owlets, uncannily like cats, with their 

 ear- tufts and mewing voices. 



LINTIE, the linnet, now assumes nuptial plumage, and 

 is remarkable as an instance of a bird 

 Linnets making a display of wedding finery in 

 Spring without moulting. In Autumn, 

 feathers grow on the cock's head and breast, having 

 broad, greyish edges, which conceal through the 

 Winter their crimson hues. The edges wear off, dis- 

 playing the spruce carmine waistcoat, and now, with 

 his sweet voice and gay bridegroom aspect, he cannot 

 fail to charm a mate. It is unfortunate for linnets that 

 no caged wild birds of our land are more companion- 

 able, or have happier, livelier songs. They are credited 

 with fine ears for music, fanciers claiming that a caged 

 bird with a perfect voice will refuse to sing in compe- 

 tition with a poor performer. 



THE grey wagtail, slender and graceful in form, radiant 

 as sunshine in hue the sprite of the moorland stream 



53 



