curlews, then blackbirds, robins, throstles. You'll niver hear a
throstle i' front o' a robin, nor a robin i' front o' a blackbird. They
mind what's menseful same as fowks do. At efter, mebbe cuckoo will begin
to shout, an' close behind him will coom t' spinks an' pipits an' lile
tits. Eh, deary me! but I've clean forgotten most pairt o' what I've
larnt misel about t' birds. They do iverything as reg'lar as if 'twere
clockwork.

"I wonder if you childer can tell me what is t' bird that ligs abed
langest?"

There was silence for a moment or two, and then Kester Laycock suggested
rooks.

"Nay," answered Grannie, "rooks are not what I sud call early risers,
but they're not t' last birds up, not by a lang way. T' last bird to
wakken up an' t' first bird to gan to bed is t' house-sparrow. An idle
taistrill is t' sparrow, wi' nowther sense nor mense in his head. But
theer, barns, I'm gettin' off t' track o' my story o' Janet an' t' way
shoo wakkened up t' birds wi' her wand.

"You see shoo allus knew whose turn sud coom next, an' wheer ivery sort
o' bird was roostin'. One minute shoo pointed t' stick to t' top o' t'
trees, an' then I heerd 'Caw! Caw!' Then shoo'd bring t' jackdaws out o'
their holes i' t' rocks, an' next minute shoo were pointin' to t' mossy
roots o' t' trees hingin' ower t' beck, while a Jenny wren would hop out
an' sing as though he were fit to brust hissen. An' all t' time it were
gettin' leeter an' leeter, an' I could see that t' sun were shinin' on'
t' cliffs aboon Malham, though Janet's Cove were still i' t' shade. I
knew my mother would sooin be seekin' me i' my cham'er, an' I started