Far away in the rising sun
a cockerel crowed
that the day had begun.

All day long, as the sun arched westward across the sky, it shone on a wonderful world of exotic day birds. Then the sun set and the moon rose. It gleamed through the dark on the birds of the night, until

Soft and low in the early dawn
a nightingale sang
that the night was gone.

Short verse vignettes about an assortment of brightly plumed birds evoke a distant time and an almost magical place. The mood is embodied and extended in Dahlov Ipcar's distinctive illustrations that wash the day-and night-time world with bold colors and shifting light. 

From the dust jacket