THE PAGEANT OF SUMMER 



is always in hiding. The shrill tone of a 

 goldfinch came just now from the ash 

 branches, but he has gone on. Every four 

 or five minutes a chaffinch sings close by, 

 and another fills the interval near the 

 gateway. There are linnets somewhere, 

 but I cannot from the old apple-tree fix 

 their exact place. Thrushes have sung 

 and ceased ; they will begin again in ten 

 minutes. The blackbirds do not cease; 

 the note uttered by a blackbird in the oak 

 yonder before it can drop is taken up by a 

 second near the top of the field, and ere it 

 falls is caught by a third on the left-hand 

 side. From one of the topmost boughs 

 of an elm there fell the song of a willow 

 warbler for awhile; one of the least of 

 birds, he often seeks the highest branches 

 of the highest tree. 



A yellowhammer has just flown from a 

 bare branch in the gateway, where he has 

 been perched and singing a full hour. 

 Presently he will commence again, and 

 as the sun declines will sing him to the 



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