104 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



On the other hand, all the small birds to which I have referred 

 expose themselves to view almost without any wariness, singing 

 and exulting in their loudest notes. The yellow wagtails run about 

 confidently on the meadow-like plots of grass around the outer 

 margin of the thicket; that marvel of prettiness, the bearded tit- 

 mouse, climbs fearlessly up and down on the reeds, whose tops are 

 graced here by a redbreast and there by a gray shrike. From all 

 sides the cheerful, though but slightly melodious song of the sedge- 

 warblers strikes the ear, and we listen with pleasure to the lay of 

 the black-throated thrush, to the lovely singing of the blue-throat, 

 the wood- wren, and the icterine warbler, and to the call of the cuckoo. 

 On the open pools among the reeds there is sure to be a pair of coots 

 swimming with their young brood, and where the water is deeper 

 there is perchance an eared grebe among the various kinds of ducks. 

 When it draws to evening the red-footed falcon, the lesser kestrel, 

 the starlings and the rose-starlings also seek the thicket for the 

 night, and of chattering and fussing there is no end. Even the 

 spotted eagle, the raven, and the hooded-crow appear as guests 

 for the night, and, on the inner margins at least, the cormorant and 

 the pelican rest from their fishing. 



Finally, over the surface of the lake the gulls fly and hover, the 

 terns dart hither and thither, the ernes and ospreys pursue their 

 prey, and, where the water is not too deep, the pelicans and swans 

 vie in their fishing industry with the greedy cormorants and 

 grebes. 



The beds of streams fringed with trees and bushes are hardly 

 less rich in life. The trees bear the nests of large and small birds 

 of prey, and serve also for their perches. From their tops may be 

 heard the resonant call of the golden oriole, the song of the thrush, 

 the laughter of the woodpecker, and the cooing of the ring-dove 

 and stock-dove; while from the thick undergrowth the glorious 

 song of the nightingale is poured forth with such clearness and 

 power, that even the fastidious ear of the critic listens in rapture to 

 the rare music. On the surface of the stream many different kinds 

 of water-birds swim about as on the lake; among the bushes on the 

 banks there is the same gay company that we saw among the reeds; 



