THE PAGEANT OF THE SEASONS 77 



of the pigeons in the yews all have their peculiar 

 fascination. They are the more welcome now, 

 because they are the first harbingers and sounds 

 of spring. A few 

 weeks hence the 

 woods will be more 

 fully transformed ; 

 the sky will have 

 a deeper blue ; but 

 nevertheless we now 

 admire the trees and 

 bushes, although 

 they are only tinted 

 with red, and as yet 

 wanting their fuller 

 foliage ; or the sky 

 with the light flecks 

 of vapour floating 



across the pale blue background. We like to look 

 forward to spring, especially when it is near. When the 

 hours and days which are all too short have passed, 

 it seems such a long time to wait for the violet 

 flower, or the primrose to bloom once again. But 

 when they are actually with us, they seem ever to 

 impart to the joyous revival of the countryside a 

 charm it did not possess before. In the days of 

 early spring we can watch more closely the begin- 

 ning of that great struggle which is about to take 



COAL-TIT 



