126 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



move at night, when apparently they fly from pond 

 to pond. 



One weird sound will only be heard by dwellers 

 upon the coast. This is the voice of the Manx Shear- 

 water, a sort of ghostly " cuck-cuckoo-," and the writer 

 has only heard it about midnight on hot, sultry nights 

 of June. When the full moon falls in the last ten 

 days of the month there is of course no darkness, and 

 we are reminded of the bright summer nights of the 

 far north. Such of our birds as do go to rest have at 

 midsummer a scant six hours for repose. We have 

 heard the blackbird singing at 9.30 and again at 3.5 

 the following morning. A robin is singing at 3.15, 

 sparrows chirping half an hour later. By four, swallows 

 are on the wing, wood-pigeons cooing and birds in 

 general are awake and active. 



THE LEAFY MONTH. 



In a backward year plenty of ash-trees and some 

 elms are not half in leaf by the first of June. But 

 though " the lingering ash delays while all the woods 

 are green," the popular fancy is right in characterizing 

 the month as that of full and perfect leafage. All the 

 delicate winter tracery of branch and twig is now lost 

 in those shapely masses of foliage which give charm 

 and dignity to our English timber-trees, especially 

 when massed in grove or copse or disposed in stately 



