as so well hidden by another bough, that I did not see it
until I had flown quite into the middle of the tree. The opening in the
nest is so small, I don't believe you could have got even your little
head in; but I had a good peep, and saw its lining of soft warm
feathers, and counted ten of the palest, tiniest eggs you can possibly
imagine."

The following day the Blackbird had other tidings for his wife. He had
been to a stream in the neighbourhood,--the Brawl. Its banks were gay
with marsh marigolds, and while he was hopping and frisking about
there, he had met a very curious-looking bird, a ring-ousel. This
creature was rather shy and had not long arrived from the south, where
he usually spent the winter. He was a pretty fellow, with black plumage
and a white crescent round his throat, and his song was very sweet
indeed. He had few relations in England, for he was what folks call a
rare bird, and the Blackbird was sorry for it, for he thought him both
pretty and attractive.

The following day the Blackbird had a long talk with the Rook. The
latter was perched on an elm, whose leaves were just beginning to burst
forth, and it was there that the Blackbird joined him. Rooks' nests,
made of rough-looking sticks, many of them containing one or more blue
eggs, were to be seen dotted here and there along the avenue of elms,
and the cawing and the gossip, to say nothing of the quarrelling, was
almost deafening. The Blackbird settled on a bough close to the Rook,
and as he did so he noticed some swallows skimming over the lawn far
below them. They were beautiful birds, their blue-black plumage glinted
in the sunshine, and now and then a quick turn displayed their brown
throats and white breasts. They were darting hither and thither, so
rapidly that the eye could hardly follow them, catching the many-winged
insects as they flew by. Then they would suddenly dart off to the
topmost gables of the old mansion, where their compact mud nests could
be plainly seen against the dark gray stones.

"I remember," said the Blackbird, "watching those swallows a long, long
time ago, when I was quite a fledgeling; but I haven't seen one all the
winter. Where can they have been all this time?"

"Oh," replied the Rook, "the swallows are most curious and interesting
creatures. When October comes they assemble from all parts of Great
Britain and then start forth on a long journey across the wide seas to
pass the winter in sunnier and warmer