COUNTRY LIFE. 



LIFE in the country can, of course, be looked at from various 

 standpoints, but methinks the Nature lover appreciates it the 

 more fully. What would the zealous student of Nature do with- 

 out the glorious country side, the leafy lanes, the ferny meads, 

 the golden coppice, the arable lands, the shallow rivulet, and 

 the stagnant pool, the glens and heaths, or even the farm-yard? 

 Our friends the birds and I use the term " friends" discreetly 

 are found in these situations all happy and contented. Even 

 the Chanticleer, that bird of the farmyard, interests us : 



4 Gold plume and copper plume. 



Comb of scarlet gay, 

 'Tis he that scatters night and gloom, 



And whistles back the day. 



Black fear, he sends it flying, 



Black care he drives afar, 

 And creeping shadows sighing, 



Before the morning star.' 



What is more interesting and enjoyable than life in the coun- 

 try? I am a lover of Nature and perhaps I may be somewhat 

 prejudiced, but I watch that golden splash on the wall in June 

 the first sunlit beam with great satisfaction and hurry out 

 I rise and inhale the fresh air; the scented Hawthorn, Honey 

 suckle, and Pinks, are cool and refreshing. 



The birds are early risers, too, the old adage says the early 

 bird catches the worm; the Cuckoo is the earliest of them all, 

 followed by the voracious Greenfinch at 1.30 a.m., the Blackcap 

 at 2.30, the Quail at 3, the fluty Blackbird at 4, the Robin and 

 the Wren at 4.30, the Thrush about 4.50, and the much despised 

 and hated House Sparrow shortly after, then the Titmice, and the 



