MAY-FLIES IN MARCH 141 



Plovers, pigeons, and rooks settled themselves down 

 upon the grass, drooped their wings, stretched their 

 feet, and lay basking in the sun. For rooks, the most 

 industrious of birds, to abandon themselves to complete 

 idleness and sleep at midday is, so far as the writer's 

 experience goes, a most unusual indulgence. Not till 

 the day's work is over, and the low sun is lighting up 

 the elm-tops, do the rooks allow themselves to take a 

 brief hour's gossip and idling, and then only before the 

 young are hatched. As it was, one pair, who had been 

 busy close by nest-building in the earlier hours, kept 

 up appearances long after the rest had yielded to the 

 drowsy influence of the sudden heat. The hen flew up 

 to the nest and pretended to "sit," though the eggs 

 were not yet laid ; while the cock-bird, who was bask- 

 ing on the grass below, started up at intervals, as some 

 comrade flew overhead, and pretended to be looking for 

 food with a sham earnestness most comical to behold. 

 Meantime, the water- fowl were fast leaving the river 

 for the meadows, in order to enjoy to the full the genial 

 warmth. An old mallard stole quietly from one of the 

 water-channels, and, after standing with his green head 

 erect to reconnoitre for some minutes, he lay down on 

 the grass, turned on his side, and slept as tranquilly as 

 a farmyard duck. One or two other mallards followed 

 his example, each lying down on the highest point of 

 the ridge between the water- cuts, like a hare in its form. 

 An old gander, who with his mate was swimming in 

 the mill-stream, took a walk in the road, and finding 

 that the warmth was to his liking, flew back in a hurry, 



