FROM SPRING TO FALL. 



Large birds with great wings and strange cries 

 come and go, now, as they have ever done within 

 the memory of those who have for generations 

 lived near the hills and the moors below them, 

 by night or day, passing over on their way to 

 their nesting haunts in the far North. These are 

 wild geese : whether they be birds of good or evil 

 omen, opinions differ. At one time they were not 

 regarded very favourably ; their cries sounded weird 

 and uncanny to the woodlanders as they passed 

 over. 



When the evening closed in, before fastening 

 the door for the night — bedtime in those days was 

 at eight o'clock — the master of the house would 

 have a final look round at the signs of the 

 coming weather. 



"The firs is all of a hum, mother; 'twill be 

 louder afore long. An' hark ! them 'ere cries is 

 in the air again. I'll put up the shutter an' fasten 

 the door." 



Cuckoo-pints— or, as they are called in some 

 districts, lords and ladies— the poisonous arums of 

 the hedgerows, show now under the hollow banks. 

 These cuckoo -pints and the storm -cock are two 



