The Long-Tailed 
Titmouse. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
(i44) 
The Long-Tailed Titmouse. 
(Hanging head downwards in search of insects.) 
the same way, and even the migrants, though 
it can hardly be that they are taken in by fine 
weather in our part of the world. In other 
words, they can know nothing about the weather 
in our part of the world till they arrive. 
EARLY ARRIVAL OF THE CUCKOO. 
Enticed by the spring-like weather which pre¬ 
vailed in March the Cuckoo seems to have been 
unusually early in his arrival in this country. 
From far south and distant north have come 
notices of this fact. If these widely separated 
observers have not been deceived by demonstra¬ 
tive spring poets it would seem, therefore, that 
the greatest popular favourite among the migra¬ 
tory birds is this year making us an unusually 
early call. The Cuckoo is due in the South of 
England about the middle of April, and in Scot¬ 
land a week or so later. Its earlier arrival used 
to be accepted as a presage of an early summer, 
and for that reason, no doubt, a genuine bad 
character among the birds (on moral, not agricul¬ 
tural, grounds) has attained its place of high 
favour. The announcements referred to serve 
as a reminder of the fact that the poet of the 
Cuckoo, like the rest of his kind, could make no 
great claim to accuracy as a naturalist. “Sweet 
bird, thy bower is ever green,” wrote Bruce. But 
the arriving Cuckoo, even when it comes at the 
right time, finds little greenery to rejoice its 
heart, and, being nothing of a sentimentalist, it 
probably cares not at all. Indeed, the Cuckoo 
is not a “ bowery ” bird. It prefers the open 
country, and there is no> part of Britain where at 
the right season it may be heard in greater 
numbers than in the extreme north-west of Scot¬ 
land, an almost treeless region. 
PRACTICE BEFORE PRECEPT. 
The Southport branch of the Wild Birds’ Pro¬ 
tection Society has found an excellent method 
of fighting the depraved taste for “ murderous 
millinery.” It has induced a number ol the lead¬ 
ing milliners to fill their shop windows with 
ladies’ hats tastefully trimmed without birds’ 
feathers or wings. In each window is placed a 
printed card stating the purpose of these little 
exhibitions. This spring show of “ non-mur- 
derous millinery ” is becoming an annual event 
in Southport. It is well worth imitating in other 
places. It is more hopeful to crowd out the hats 
trimmed with fragments of dead birds with a 
positive counter-attraction than to concentrate 
attention on what is withheld. 
