n8 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



as big as his generous providers. The nests of 

 our little friends, the Siskins and the Twites, are 

 packed full of hungry youngsters. On the sea- 

 shore the young Gulls and Terns, like balls of 

 brown and yellow down, are ever clamouring to 

 their parents for sustenance. 



Bird life in summer undergoes many important 

 changes which the careful observer will not fail 

 to notice. Most striking fact of all, especially 

 amongst singing birds, is their loss of voice. 

 In the middle of summer the song of the Thrush 

 and the Blackbird is visibly on the wane ; and as 

 the days go by most of the songsters that made 

 the early spring-tide glad with their voices will 

 warble less and less frequently, until by the end 

 of July their music is hushed until after the 

 autumnal equinox. From the end of June bird 

 music is rapidly on the wane ; already we miss the 

 glorious richness of the morning concert, and the 

 sweet variety of the even-song. Even in the 

 latest days of summer the Greenfinch and the 

 Yellow Bunting sing most persistently from the 

 shrubberies and the hedgerows; but the Tree Pipit 

 is silent and the Whinchat's song is hushed. As a 

 rule birds do not sing so freely during the time the 

 young are being reared ; and once that duty safely 

 over they generally cease all attempts at music, 

 and prepare for their annual change of dress. 

 The following table will again help to show the 

 state of bird music, this time during the months of 

 summer : 



