sky -was already passing into pearl. The coun- 

 try birds had been up half an hour, I am sure. 

 However, ' the old cemetery was wide enough 

 awake now. There was chirping everywhere. 

 It grew louder and more general every moment, 

 till shortly the six thousand voices, and more, 

 were raised in the cheerful din— the matin, if 

 you please, for as yet only a few of the birds 

 were fighting. 



But the fight quickly spread. It is the Eng- 

 lish sparrow's way of waking up ; his way of 

 whetting his appetite for breakfast ; his way of 

 digesting his dinner j his way of settling his 

 supper — his normal waking way. 



To the clatter of voices was added the flutter 

 of wings ; for the birds had begun to shift 

 perches, and to exchange slaps as well as to call 

 names—the movement setting toward the tree- 

 tops. None of the sparrows had left the roost. 

 The storm of chatter increased and the buzz of 

 wings quickened into a steady whir, the noise 

 holding its own with that of the ice-wagons 

 pounding past. The birds were filling the top- 

 most branches, a gathering of the clans, evi- 

 dently, for the day's start. The clock in ScoUay 

 [101] 



