CHAPTER I. 
EVERY-DAY LIFE. 
“ Wir lustigen Burger in griiner Stadt, 
Wir singen nnd larmen, 
Arbeiten nnd Schwarmen 
Yom Morgen zum Abend und werden satt.”—T ieck. 
No other animal understands the art of living so well 
as the bird, and no creature is so well up in house¬ 
keeping and domestic economy. The longest day is 
scarce long enough, and the shortest night might yet be 
curtailed, as far as the bird is concerned. It is ever 
wakeful, cheerful, and joyous, duly apportioning the time 
allotted to it. Conscious of its happy existence it appears 
to regard work as play, and its bright song as a most 
important labour. To this its first and last thoughts are 
directed; the happiest season of the year and the brightest 
time of the day is dedicated to it before everything else. 
All birds wake early from their short sleep. Night’s 
gloomy mantle hangs yet heavy over the land; and before 
she has half run her course the bonny bird, already fully 
rested, greets the day: earlier heralds than the rosy 
dawn itself, aye, earlier even than the faint gray light 
which precedes it. “ There is an incomparable pleasure,” 
says our Naumann, “ in visiting the leafy coppice on 
a bright May morning quivering with bird-song. Each 
little throat vies with the other, and seeks to surpass it. 
Soon after twelve at night the Cuckoo opens the concert 
