66 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



its general colouring is so much like its larger 

 relative, that any slight details concerning that 

 bird's plumage will not be necessary. 



It is a small creature, barely six inches in 

 length, but the noise it makes, when the first 

 signs of spring begin to show, might proceed 

 from a bird as large as the great black wood- 

 pecker. 



This is the bird that gives those faultless 

 side-drum rolls in such rapid fashion. 



The air is fresh ; in fact, it might be called 

 a little keen, although the sun is well up and 

 shining brightly; but you breathe fresh life every 

 breath you take, the life air of this fresh spring- 

 time. A slight frost shows on the grass of the 

 grazing park -lands we are passing through, 

 just enough to let you see that "cuckoo 

 weather" will not come for a week or so. It 

 had been a dew for three parts of the night, 

 changing towards morning to slight frost. 

 Rooks and jackdaws are, when roosting for 

 the night, very seriously inconvenienced by 

 heavy dews, especially if a cold change 

 comes. 



On this bright morning some forty, or it 

 may be fifty all told, have perched on the top 

 branches of a dead tree that the sun is shining 



