Part 11

The Parson came up the garden walk and joined the group: the news of the Ring-ousel had reached him.

“There he is,” said the Poet “and there they all are, taking my berries as they’ve taken my fruit. And as far as I’m concerned they may have it every bit; but for my wife’s sake I must consent to a compromise, if there is one.”

“Well,” said the Parson, “give them a tithe of all you have. Give them every tenth fruit tree, and a corner of the strawberry bed. As for the rowan-berries, you must let them go.”

“And welcome,” said the Poet; and Bessie and old Joseph made no objection.

Next year the Parson’s compromise was carried out; and Man successfully asserted his right to share in the Blackbirds’ feast.

THE END

RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.

WORKS BY W. WARDE FOWLER, M.A.

_With Illustrations by_ Bryan Hook

TALES OF THE BIRDS

_Uniform Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. Prize Library Editions. Crown 8vo. Ornamental Cloth, 2s. 6d. Cloth elegant, gilt edges, 3s. 6d. School Edition. Globe 8vo. 1s. 6d._

_SATURDAY REVIEW._—“It is one of the most delightful books about birds ever written. All the stories are good.... He knows all about their social habits and their solitary phases of life from close and constant observation, and makes the most profitable use of his study as ornithologist by the prettiest alliance of his science with the fancy and humour of an excellent story teller.... The book finds sympathetic illustration in Mr. Bryan Hook’s clever drawings.”

_GLOBE._—“Mr Fowler’s book will be especially appreciated by young readers. He displays both a knowledge and love of nature and of the animal creation, and his tales have the merit moreover of conveying in an unostentatious way the best of morals. The illustrations by Mr. Bryan Hook are admirably drawn and engraved.”

_GUARDIAN._—“Mr. Fowler has produced a charming book, which none are too old and few too young to appreciate. He possesses the rare art of telling a story simply and unaffectedly; he is pathetic without laborious effort; he excels in suggesting the effect which he desires to produce. A quiet vein of humour runs through many of the stories, and many shrewd strokes of kindly satire are given under the guise of his pleasant fables.... Apart from the interest of the stories themselves, the pages are brimful of minute observation of the ways and habits of bird life. The _Tales of the Birds_ would be an admirable present to any child, and if the grown-up donor read it first, the present would, in a peculiar degree, confer the double blessing which proverbially belongs to a gift.”

_ST. JAMES’S GAZETTE._—“We scarcely know which we like best of these charming stories ... Every piece gives as some further glimpse into the ways of birds and makes us feel fonder of them.”

_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ MORE TALES OF THE BIRDS. Illustrated

_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ _Illustrated by_ Bryan Hook A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS

_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ SUMMER STUDIES OF BIRDS AND BOOKS

_Extra Crown 8vo. 6s._ THE ROMAN FESTIVALS OF THE PERIOD OF THE REPUBLIC. An Introduction to the Study of Roman Religion.

[_Handbooks of Archæology and Antiquities_

_SPECTATOR._—“This work is intended as an introduction to the study of the religion of the Romans, and a very faithful and accurate piece of work it is, as indeed might be expected by those who know Mr. Fowler’s previous studies of ancient life.”

_LITERATURE._—“Mr. Fowler has admirably summed up the results of the folklore school as far as Rome is concerned; and it is much to have a scholar’s unprejudiced opinion on them. The book marks a distinct step in advance.”

_GUARDIAN._—“A delightful volume which will attract and interest any educated and thoughtful reader.”

_SPEAKER._—“This delightful book, which leads us by the plain path of the calendar, illuminating every step with now a curious parallel from Samoa, now a pretty tale from Ovid, now an observation made in Oxfordshire. And it is not of every work that you can say with truth that it is the work of a scholar, a gentleman, a philosopher, a naturalist, and an understanding lover of the country.”

_ACADEMY._—“A book with which every student of Roman religion will have to make his account.... Alike as a storehouse of critically sifted facts and as a tentative essay towards the synthetic arrangement of these facts, Mr. Fowler’s book seems to us to mark a very distinct advance upon anything that has yet been done.”

_Crown 8vo. 5s._ THE CITY-STATE OF THE GREEKS AND ROMANS

_ATHENÆUM._—“From cover to cover the book is readable and instructive, and to the general reader it should prove as attractive as a novel.”

_SPECTATOR._—“On the ‘city-state’ Mr. Warde Fowler gives us a very valuable discussion.”

_WESTMINSTER REVIEW._—“The best recent English work on the subject.”

_MORNING POST._—“Mr. Fowler’s well-written and excellently arranged treatise will be valued not only for the information which it contains, but for the light which it throws on various historical questions.”

LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.

Transcriber’s Notes

--Retained the copyright notice from the printed edition (although this book is in the public domain.)

--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

--In the text versions only, delimited italicized text in _underscores_.

End of Project Gutenberg's More Tales of the Birds, by W. Warde Fowler