72 IN BIRD-LAND 



In the evenings the Bats now turn out, the 

 Great Bat flying high and straight, and only 

 occasionally swerving from his direct course to 

 snap at a moth, and every now and then giving 

 forth a shrill squeak. Lower down, around the 

 farmhouse and its buildings, the Common Bat is 

 dodging hither and thither. When it becomes too 

 dark to see any of these, the Tawny Owl's hoot is 

 heard coming from the wood ; and then, flying 

 low down over the grass, we can just catch sight 

 of the White Owl as he goes hawking for mice. 



Days pass on, and the country becomes each 

 hour more full of spring-life. In the open glades 

 of the woods the sulphur butterfly is seen, seeming 

 to prefer the more moist places, but ever bathing 

 its wings in the sunbeams. Each day there are 

 more birds to be seen ; the Tree-Pipit is sitting 

 on its favourite bush, under which it reared its 

 young last year ; and two days later the Wryneck 

 arrives. Country folk call it the Cuckoo's mate 

 because the two seem always to arrive together ; 

 but it is not until a week later that the Cuckoo 

 really comes in some seasons. 



Although spring had come when the Hedge- 

 Sparrows first made their nest, the surroundings 

 do not seem to be complete until the merry call 

 of the Cuckoo 'is heard in field and wood, or 



