AN ARCADIAN CALENDAR 



hurdler is among the last of our open-air craftsmen: 

 and his race is dying. 



CERTAIN birds are especially associated with human 

 friends. The wryneck is the woodman's 

 The bird, its hawk-like cry in April giving the 



Windmill signal for the stripping of oak-trees' bark. 

 Thrush The yellow wagtail is a farmer's bird, 

 ushering in the time of spring sowings. As 

 the sandpiper is the angler's companion, the wheatear 

 keeps the shepherd company on lonely downs. Even the 

 miller has his bird in the redwing, called " windmill 

 thrush," since the working of its wings suggests the 

 revolving of a windmill's sails, while it is supposed to 

 seek shelter by windmills in hard weather. Redwings 

 now arrive in force; the pity is that few windmills are 

 left to keep up the traditional association. 



WINTER SKETCHES 



ONE country sound is most typical of the intense still- 

 ness of a late Winter afternoon, when, per- 

 A Dull haps, there is snow on the hills and fog in 

 Afternoon the vale : the crow of Chanticleer. He likes 

 to take advantage of the silence to make the 

 welkin ring. The least sounds seem almost noisy: 

 acorns pattering on a pond, tinkling notes of titmice; 

 a blackbird's alarm creates a babel, and a shot in the 

 wood wakens reverberating echoes. The huntsman's 

 horn strikes a welcome note of cheer on a dull afternoon ; 

 and the sense of gloom at dusk is banished for a moment 

 by the colours of the picture made by hounds jogging 

 home, the scarlet of a coat, the red of a mask dangling 

 at a saddle. 



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