CHAPTER II. 



CHIFF-CHAFF — WILLOW WREN — HEDGE SPARROW ALPINE 



ACCENTOR DARTFORD WARBLER — GOLD-CREST FIRE- 

 CREST COMMON WREN. 



There is no season of the year wliicli seems so 

 full of life and beauty as the months of April and 

 May. The lambs lie like patches of snow upon 

 the meadow, now green with richest grass, and 

 bright with its sprinkled daisies and buttercups. 

 In the wood where the soft winds answer to the 

 running brooks, the blue-bells are hanging, and 

 the wind-flowers with their white and pink petals 

 are all unharmed by the breeze. An odour of 

 rimroses and violets comes from the banks, and 

 leaves quiver and dance in the sunshine, and cast 

 a chequered shadow on the pathway. There is a 

 loud concert of singing among the green boughs, 

 and every day it becomes more varied. Not only 

 are our resident birds in full song, but those visi- 

 tants which wing their way across the ocean to 



