THE ROUND OF THE SEASON 189 



hawthorn is as yet too full of flower, and the peewits 

 too concerned with family cares, for any near fore- 

 cast of his particular pleasure. As soon, however, 

 as the young birds begin to leave the nest, and the 

 field mice roam nightly in the first real summer 

 heat, the hoot of the brown owl tells him that his 

 time, too, has come. These sounds are music to the 

 ears of such " night birds " as the old Dicks of my 

 " looking forward " days. Then it is that the great, 

 fat, brown and white moths begin to flitter at 

 twilight about the meadows by the riverside. 



When the ash and the oak are fully dressed, 

 and the great blaze of yellow gorse is fading away, 

 the " bustard " carnival is in full swing. So the 

 time of the still night fisherman comes " Just 

 behind the sunshine and the song of the birds." 



All through the month of June, perhaps the most 

 glorious of all months in Westmorland, the 

 devotees of the bustard ply their solitary craft. 

 They wander off alone, just before darkness sets in, 

 with " put up " rods and long shafted nets, to return 

 in the small hours of the morning, as daylight 

 slowly breaks, and the old villages still lie asleep 

 under the fells. 



When the cattle are to be seen sheltering under 

 the trees from the heat of July and August suns, 

 and the song of the birds has died down, fly 



