. Birds through the year . TURTLE-DOVES MAY Flower upon flower expands :May reigns in hawthorn are the saffron daughters of the snow,Sweet Summer tells her sonThe daffodils are done :Spring takes his mother by the hand to go. The sedge-wren tells her note, Dim larks in ether float, The uprolled clouds sustain their pageant dome. In velvet, sun-shine-fed, Spires up the bulrush head, Where rock the wild swans in their reedy home. Summer eternal, born From year to year, as morn Is born from day to day—reviving glows : Her breath the scented gale, Her voice the nightingale, Her form inc
. Birds through the year . TURTLE-DOVES MAY Flower upon flower expands :May reigns in hawthorn are the saffron daughters of the snow,Sweet Summer tells her sonThe daffodils are done :Spring takes his mother by the hand to go. The sedge-wren tells her note, Dim larks in ether float, The uprolled clouds sustain their pageant dome. In velvet, sun-shine-fed, Spires up the bulrush head, Where rock the wild swans in their reedy home. Summer eternal, born From year to year, as morn Is born from day to day—reviving glows : Her breath the scented gale, Her voice the nightingale, Her form incarnate in the queenly rose. Lord de Tabley, Auguries of May. Oh were my love yon lilac fair, Wi purple blossoms in the Spring,And I a bird to shelter thereWhen wearied on my little wing. How would I mourn when it was tornBy Autumn wild and Winter rude ! But I would sing on wanton wing When youthfu May its bloom renewed. Robert SWALLOWS AND SWIFTS Among all our smaller birds the swifts and swallows have thefinest gift of flight ; and their constant activity in the air isin many ways more impressive than the kitelike soaring orfloating of birds of prey and of gulls. These often restupon the air, with no more muscular effort than is required toadjust the planes of their wings and tails to the changing air-current ; but swifts and swallows travel at high speed, evenwhen their wings are doing least work, and their muscles seemalmost tireless. Their glorious flight and constant activityin the air make them the most birdlike of birds; they aredoubly welcome when they appear in spring, and most missedwhen they leave the autumn sky Swifts, as we have said, are not really members of theswallow tribe, but of a rather isolated family which havebecome swallow-like through similarity of habit. They showtheir different affinities by only laying two eggs, whileswallows and martins usually lay five. By continually hunt-ing
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
