JUNE. 101 



speckled brown ; but as to when his descendants 

 adopted other fashions, and when some of them, like 

 the blackbird and robin, ceased to be gregarious, we 

 can only vaguely conjecture. 



THE SEASON'S WANE. 



2,6. Though we could count the " summer " 

 days that we have had upon our fingers, the country- 

 side is already full of the foresigns of autumn. Large 

 flocks of peewits are gathered on the uplands, young 

 birds of the year. They have brownish faces, instead 

 of the clear white complexions which, contrasting 

 with the glossy black of brow and crest, made their 

 fathers so conspicuous earlier in the season, when 

 they stood, bowing to attract the intruder's attention, 

 on some ridge many score yards away from the 

 threatened nest. Presently these flocks of young 

 plovers will be reinforced by the late broods and by 

 their parents, as well as by hosts of immigrants from 

 east and north ; and thus will be formed those vast 

 army corps of peewits which wheel and turn with 

 faultless but spontaneous discipline in autumn and 

 winter over the fens and marsh lands. There, too, 

 will be myriads of starlings, with aerial skill as 

 marvellous, and numbers far exceeding those of the 

 peewits ; and already for weeks flocks of starlings by 

 the hundred have collected, and chosen the roosting- 

 places, which, later, will be rendered filthy by tens of 

 thousands. 



