Bird Life in June. 



While in early April we had all the promise of spring 

 before us, early June carries that season to its com- 

 pleted perfection and rounded fulness. When, as 

 sometimes, though, alas, not always, happens, its 

 third week brings those "perfect days in June," when 

 the garden is full of roses and when the first straw- 

 berries ripen, we feel that the coming months can have 

 nothing quite so fair to offer. For all too soon the 

 longest day is reached ; the flowery wealth of the hay- 

 meadows falls before the scythe ; there is the blaze of 

 charlock and the flaunting scarlet of poppies amongst 

 the corn, and one feels that summer is here. Towards 

 the close of the month many birds become "silent ; 

 we hear only solitary voices in place of the full chorus 

 of its opening days, and this is especially the case 

 if the weather is hot and dry. In no other month 

 are our birds so stationary as in June ; migration is 

 at a standstill ; there are neither goers nor comers. 



June may be characterized as the month of young 

 birds. Innumerable broods of fledglings are launched 

 upon the world to swell the bird population of copse 

 and hedge and thicket, their parents being frequently 



"7 



