FROM SPRING TO FALL. 



Sea, and the little chiffchaff comes to us from over 

 the Channel, why should not such a strong-winged 

 bird as this be able to do it, under peculiar circum- 

 stances known only to himself? And if he does 

 not take extended flights, where did the birds come 

 from whose weary arrival on our shore I have men- 

 tioned ? 



A bevy of quails is the term corresponding with 

 a covey of partridges. 



Shakespeare — as practical an out-of-doors natu- 

 ralist as ever lived, although some students who 

 pore over dried skins have had the effrontery to 

 deny this — was well acquainted with the common 

 quail, and I have seen this little bird in his haunts, 

 in days before the present system of high farming 

 came in vogue, in a district where great pastures, 

 rough as those of the Elizabethan days, existed for 

 grazing purposes. All kinds of weeds were dotted 

 about them, but that there was also excellent pas- 

 ture growing there was proved by the stock which 

 fed in these places. In such pastures the nimble- 

 footed, quick-winged little bird would in the season 

 make his home for a time ; and from the exceedingly 



