AN ARCADIAN CALENDAR 



Home- like the St. Kilda wren, and that its family 

 keeping was settled in the Far West before the 

 Wrens Bronze Age. Perhaps the wren is nowhere 



more plentiful than in Cornwall, where 

 every length of stone hedge has a wren to sing in 

 Summer and Winter; while it abounds on the rocky 

 coast, outpouring its brilliant lyric above the roar of the 

 Atlantic. The wren's Winter song may arise from its 

 deep-seated nesting instinct, which makes a cock wren 

 build several nests and roost in old ones. 



THE YEAR'S SUNSET 

 IN the woods the year fades apace, with all its " dreams 



of greatness." Now that the leaves have 

 The fallen, like the year's hopes, interest tends 



Titmouse to focus on fox and pheasant. Other long- 

 Rout tails which relieve the sadness of the Fall 



are the charming long-tailed tits " Mum- 

 ruffins " as country boys used to call them, leading a 

 gypsy life, and following their leader among the leafless 

 but budding branches: suggesting flights of arrows. 

 Probably the party is made up of one family only ; this 

 titmouse believes in large families. Where a Winter 

 party a score strong is seen, there is presumptive evi- 

 dence that the father of the family is a bigamist. 



WOODLAND FOLK 



IN the wintry beech-woods many feasters are still dis- 

 covered enjoying the beech-mast, and the 

 The loud "Pink, pink!" calls of a flock of 



Battling chaffinches, in their harlequin array, tell of 

 Finch their good hunting among the fallen leaves ; 



