418 The Outline of Science 



and early Summer, however, that he pours forth his best music. 

 The song has words for it in the folklore of many countries, and 

 the following rhyme succeeds in conveying an idea of it: 



Tu whit, tu whit, tu whee, 



No shoemaker can make boots for me 



Why so? why so? why so? 



Because my heel's as long as my toe, my toe. 



The Wood-Pigeon 



No voice is more closely associated with the beautiful wooded 

 landscapes of England than the love-song of the Wood-Pigeon. 

 According to an ancient legend, the words it tries to say are: 

 "Tak two coos, Paddy," the legend being that in the Golden 

 Age the Wood-Pigeon laid its eggs on the grass, but they were 

 trampled upon by two cows. An Irishman led one away, and 

 the Wood-Pigeon prays in vain for him to take the other, to 

 which the Partridge is supposed to reply: "De'il take it" a won- 

 derfully close imitation of its apology for a song. The Little 

 Dove, the Turtle Dove, or the Croodling Dove has a sweet short 

 song that fits in well with the whisper of the summer leaves. It 

 is an old country saying that when you first hear the croodling 

 of the Little Doe, then is the time to sow your swedes. 



The Bullfinch and the Goldfinch 



One has often wondered if there is a manner of accounting 

 for the different marital qualities that characterise birds. Take 

 the cock Partridge, and you find a model father one that will 

 stand up to anything in defence of his young while the cock 

 Pheasant is a very gay Lothario. The most faithful of our birds 

 is the Bullfinch. The male and female do not only stick together 

 during the breeding season, as is the case with most birds, but 

 along the lanes in winter you may see the male and female pick- 

 ing up morsels of food on the black hedgerows. They do not 

 keep close together, but never go out of hearing of one another, 



