46 <I(4fMBLES OF A T>OfMINlS 



hidden in the tall growth under the hedge-row whence 

 the whitethroat's common country name of "nettle- 

 creeper." 



High up among the elms that cluster round the stile 

 a blackbird sings at times ; and now and then, as if 

 carried quite away by the glory of this fair May 

 morning, he soars from tree to tree, singing as he flies. 

 Another bird across the valley answers him, and, for a 

 minute or two, their staves of mellow music float, like 

 echo and its answer, to and fro across the hollow. 



A little troop of swallows are flying round the old 

 farm buildings, floating now and then through the 

 doorway of a cowshed where soon they will begin to 

 build their homes among the rafters. If you stand 

 within the doorway and keep well in shadow, the 

 swallows will pass almost within reach of your arm, with 

 snatches of sweet song that seem to ripple on the 

 sunny air. 



Perched on a leafless ash-tree that leans over the gate 

 sits a redstart, one of the very brightest of the rovers 

 who have come back from their winter in the south. 

 We are tempted to call them summer visitors, but this 

 surely is their native heath, where they were born and 

 bred, and where now they are busy in their turn with 

 household cares. The redstart might be sitting for his 

 portrait, though he is almost too far off to study well. 

 Even at this distance, however, can be seen the red on 

 his breast and the bold touch of white over his bill, and, 

 as he flies down suddenly from his perch, you see the 

 flicker of red feathers in his tail, which has earned for 



