CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE LOCAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



'Twas then we heard the cuckoo's note 

 Sound sweetly through the air, 



And everything around us looked 

 Most beautiful and fair. 



OLD SONG. 



LL lovers of the woods and fields are in- 

 , terested in our native birds. Many of their 

 sincerest pleasures are associated with birds; 

 they listen for the song of the thrush in 

 early spring; for the note of the cuckoo, 

 inestimable herald of the summer, voiceful 

 when all else is voiceless, magnet of the heart in quiet 

 evenings as we tread the rising grass or scent the new-cut 

 hay; and when the corn is awaiting the sickle, for the 

 crec crec of the land-rail. So with the sweet spectacle of 

 the little nests, hidden away in the hawthorn or ancient 

 ivy-bush. So again with the graceful movements of very 

 many, 



The thin-winged swallow skating on the air; 



the lengthened undulations of the yellow wagtail; the 



