26 CORNWALL and rooks are jealous of them, possibly seeing in this measured movement some imagined superiority, for they occasionally buffet them as they fly. There is a current saying accounting for the erratic allot- ment of days in the spring quarter. It is said that March borrowed a few days of February to catch the crane on her nest, but he only caught her tail, and so the crane has no tail since then ! Milton speaks of the migration of the cranes when he says : " Part loosely wing the region ; part, more wise, In common, ranged in figure, wedge their way, Intelligent of seasons ; and set forth Their airy caravan ; high over seas Flying, and over lands with mutual wing Easing their flight ; so steers the prudent crane Her annual voyage, borne on winds, the air Floats as they pass, fanned with unnumbered plumes." The most common birds up these tidal rivers are the sheldrake. They are plentiful and very tame as they sit dozing away the hours in little parties on the tide edge, or flighting over the water with low musical quacks. They are extremely white when on the wing in fact that is how one always thinks of them, white and orange. The orange flash is their bill, which is brightened in the spring-
