A ROADSIDE NATURALIST. 23 



When spring is here, that harbinger of the cuckoo, 

 the wryneck, will come and shout out his peet-peet- 

 peet-peet-pee-pee-pee on the old pollard, or on the 

 moss-covered trunk of some fruit-tree, for my notice, 

 as I wander along. So close have I been to him that 

 I could study all his delicate moth-like markings and 

 his movements to perfection. Like the robin and 

 the wren, as well as the cuckoo, with whose coming 

 they so closely associate him, the wryneck is one of 

 the country children's favourite birds. 



Mary Howitt, a true lover of nature and all her 

 children, from the greatest to the least, describes the 

 harbinger of the cuckoo so sweetly, that we may be 

 pardoned for reminding our readers of her lines : 



" Pee ! pee ! pee ! says the merry pee-bird, 

 And as soon as the children hear it, 

 ' The cuckoo's coming,' they say, ' for I heard 

 Up in the tree the merry pee-bird, 

 And he'll come in three days, or near it.' 

 The days go on, one, two, three, 

 And the little bird singeth ' pee ! pee ! pee ! ' 

 Then on the morrow, 'tis very true, 

 They hear the note of the old cuckoo ; 

 Up in the elm-tree through the day, 

 Just as last summer he shouted away ; 

 * Cuckoo ! ' the cuckoo doth cry, 

 And the little boys mock him as they go by." 



