The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The plain-song cuckoo gray,
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer nay."*
*Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III Scene i.
He remembered, perhaps, in after years his rambles by the slow-
flowing Avon, when he wrote:
"He makes sweet music with th' enamell'd stones,
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge
He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;
And so by many winding nooks he strays,
With willing sport, to the wide ocean."*
*Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II Scene vii.
He knew the times of the flowers. In spring he marked
"the daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty."*
*Winter's Tale.
Of summer flowers he tells us
"Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram;
The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun,
And with him rises weeping; these are flowers
Of middle summer."*
*Winter's Tale.
He knew that "a lapwing runs close by the ground," that choughs
are "russet-pated.
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