Bird Life in April. 



Like March, April is a month of moods many and 

 varied, many-sided as the aspects of bird-life with 

 which it presents us. Popularly associated with 

 showers, how often do the harsh, dry winds hold sway, 

 so that only the closing days of the month bring the 

 short-lived downpour, followed by the burst of sun- 

 shine, during which the buds seem to swell visibly, 

 and the willow-wrens sing on every side. Who has 

 not qualified the poet's " Oh, to be in England now 

 that April's there ! " with a strong desire to be some- 

 where else where the tooth of the east wind is less keen. 

 Yet who would miss an April, though her frowns be 

 more than tears or smiles ? In virgin freshness of 

 leaf and flower, and, when in happy mood, in clearness 

 of her laughing skies, she remains the poet's month, 

 and in the naturalist's memory every one of her thirty 

 days is marked with a white stone. For now nesting 

 is in full progress, bringing into play marvels of 

 inherited instinct and showing varied traits of "the 

 mind behind the feathers " which are little in evidence 

 at other times of year. Now a crowd of returning 

 songsters re-peoples copse and thicket, welcome as 



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