166 WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



birds of the year having very little grey in 

 fact, it is two or three years before the grey 

 neck is fully developed. The young Swallows 

 do not have the long forked tail feathers of 

 their parents, nor the dull red covering on the 

 forehead. These and other differences in plumage 

 the young naturalist may note. 



Autumn is the season of decay and rest. The 

 earth has yielded her fruits, and man is 

 busy storing them up for his future use. The 

 clays of hand-reaping are past. The reaper-and- 

 binder is busy among the yellow grain, instead 

 of the band of Irish shearers, or their successors 

 of a later period, who wielded the scythe in place of 

 the hook. A great concourse of men, women, and 

 children appeared, until recent!}', on the harvest 

 field, the men swinging the scythe, the women 

 lifting the cut grain and binding it into sheaves, 

 while the children made the bands, those too young 

 to work being left at the stook-side to play, 

 while the older children were at work. They were 

 a gay, merry band, each glowing cheek showing 



