three o’clock
I still had the milking-stool in my hand , but the cow no longer troubled me . Let her see if she could wake Veronica by merely bellowing outside the door ; it was more than I had ever been able to do . I sat down on the stool and opened my note-book . I headed the page : `` Sunrise in July : observations and emotions , '' and I wrote down at once , lest I should forget it , that towards three o'clock a faint light is discernible , and added that this light gets stronger as the time goes on . It sounded footling even to myself , but I had been reading a novel of the realistic school that had been greatly praised for its actuality . There is a demand in some quarters for this class of observation . I likewise made a note that the pigeon and the corncrake appear to be among the earliest of Nature 's children to welcome the coming day ; and added that the screech-owl may be heard , perhaps at its best , by anyone caring to rise for the purpose , some quarter of an hour before the dawn .