Nearer Dawn
The arrival of " summer time " at the height of spring is not popular with farm-workers, for they are already early risers and know how heavy the dew can be ; but of the many advantages it confers on the slug-a-bed —the Corinnas and others—is the introduction to birds' song. Most of the most beautiful singers are more or less matutinal. The lark sings a longer piece and climbs nearer to " heaven's gate." Near dawn the nightingale has not fallen into the silence of day ; and perhaps the greatest of all mbrning lovers is the blackbird. He is wont to " break the young day's heart," and in the early hours he is the most vociferous of birds as well as very much the most tuneful, in the full sense of the word as applied to human music. He is also a lover of the suburbs of London, singing in places where other songs are few. Summer time has much enhanced his reputation.
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