"It's full of sticklebacks, and such
beauties! Some are all gold and green and scarlet; the most beautiful
little creatures you ever saw, and it is so easy to catch them; and,
besides, it is so pretty there now."

"Oh, very well!" said their father; "only I've got leave for you to fish
in Lord Copsedale's lake next week."

"Hooray!" said Harry; "that's capital."

After breakfast Fred was all in a state of ferment to be off to Trencher
Pond. All was new to him, for he did not even know what a stickleback
might be, and he longed to see some of these gorgeous fellows that were
all over "gold and green and scarlet." They were not long in getting
equipped for their trip, for Harry soon produced three willow wands,
some twine, worms, and a tin can to hold the spoil; and, thus provided,
away they started, with the full understanding that their dinner would
be ready at one o'clock precisely.

They had only about a mile to walk down a green lane, and then to turn
off on the little common which contained the pond, but that mile took a
long time to get over, there was so much to do, to see, and to listen
to; there was the hole where the wasps had a nest to look at; there were
the nimble squirrels to watch as they darted across the road, and,
scampering up the trees, peeped down at the visitors to their domains.
Ah, how Fred longed to have one of the little bushy-tailed fellows, as
he watched their nimble tricks, scampering and leaping from bough to
bough as easily and fearlessly as a cat would upon the ground. Then
there were so many pretty wildflowers in the banks and hedge-rows; so
many birds to learn the names of, for they were all strangers to Fred,
who only knew sparrows--and they were different to the sparrows down
here at Hollowdell--and canaries and parrots. There was a
hedge-sparrow's nest, too, to peep at, with its tiny little blue eggs;
but not to touch, for, though Fred wanted to take it, Harry and Phil
said "No;" for Papa did not approve of the birds being disturbed. Then
there was a beautifully-formed mossy little cup-shaped nest in the fork
of a tree, just inside the coppice, smooth, round, and soft-edged, with
the horsehair and wool lining all plaited together, and made as even as
possible. It was so low down that, by bending the branch, the boys
could look at it, which they did, while the poor chaffinches, in the
horse-chestnut tree close by, cried "pink-pink-pink" in a state of the
greatest alarm lest