LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Page
[1.]“Among the lilacs”[15]
[2.]The Wild Swan[17]
[3.]Mobbing the Great Sea Lantern[23]
[4.]“In days of pinching want”[28]
[5.]“As man’s familiar guests”[36]
[6.]“Waiting for the signal to start”[41]
[7.]Swallows and rain[43]
[8.]Grouse[47]
[9.]“One of the ploughman’s companions”[51]
[10.]“The plovers scatter o’er the heath”[62]
[11.]“The delightful dotterel”[65]
[12.]“Seems to act as timekeeper to the ducks”[68]
[13.]“In the earldom of the Falcon”[73]
[14.]Where the eagle is at home[77]
[15.]The Peregrine[81]
[16.]The old Cock Pheasant[85]
[17.]“Like Snow-birds that are happy without sun”[87]
[18.]Crows at sundown[94]
[19.]“In some brake of fern and bramble”[100]
[20.]House Sparrow[107]
[21.]The Corn-crake and its companions[115]
[22.]The Nuthatch at home[121]
[23.]Nesting-hole of Wryneck[126]
[24.]The Tit of Rowfant[129]
[25.]Long-eared Owl[137]
[26.]The Magpie’s fortress[139]
[27.]Where the Kestrels build[141]
[28.]“Enhancing every charm by its transient brilliance”[145]
[29.]The Eagle of the Sea[155]
[30.]Guillemots[157]
[31.]The Sea-Birds’ citadel[159]
[32.]The Sea-Parrots at home[164]
[33.]“Where the sea-folk cluster”[166]
[34.]Petrels resting[171]
[35.]Gulls[175]
[36.]Nest of Lesser Black-backed Gull[179]
[37.]Among the Skuas[182]
[38.]A Colony of Cormorants[183]
[39.]Black-throated Diver[184]
[40.]The King of the Pool[190]
[41.]The cave-haunting Martlet[194]
[42.]“When the ponds are all ice-locked”[197]
[43.]Did I hear some one?[203]
[44.]The Water Hen[207]
[45.]The Reed Musicians[212]

CHAPTER I

The Birds of the Seasons—Some Birds of Passage—The Miracle of Migration—The Thrush—The Blackbird—What is the meaning of Singing?—The Swallow

CHAPTER I

“And now the goddess bids the birds appear,
Raise all their music and salute the year.”
Wyatt.

“The birds sing many a lovely lay
Of God’s high praise and of their sweet love-tune.”
Spenser.