INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 



to tell the hours, adding to each — "All's well." Then the 

 Whip-poor-will calls, and the Owls answer, hooting, laugh- 

 ing, purring, according to the specific note. 



When you go through garden, lane, and wood, on your 

 happy quest, circling the marshes that will not yield you 

 foothold, remember that if you wish to hear the Spring Song 

 and identify the singers, you must yourself be in tune, and 

 you must be alert in keeping the record, lest the troop slip 

 by through the open doorway of the trees, leaving you to 

 regret your carelessness all the year. 



As you listen to the song and look at the birds, many will 

 disappear, and you will know that these are the migrants 

 who have gone to their various breeding haunts ; and that 

 those who are busy choosing their building sites, and are 

 carrying straw, clay and twigs, are the summer residents. 

 Then you must glide quietly among the trees to watch the 

 next scene of the bird year — the building of the nest — 

 which is the motive of the Spring Song, and you will feel 

 that in truth — 



" Hard is the heart that loveth nought 

 In May." 



10 



