their work should be destroyed; and the pretty cock
bird, with his crested head, pinky breast, and white-marked wings, burst
out into a loud and joyous song, short but sweet, as the three young
travellers journeyed on. And what a horse-chestnut tree that was all
one mass of pinky white blossoms, the tree itself one mighty green
pyramid of graceful leaves, and then, from top to bottom, hundreds and
hundreds of the blossom-spikes standing like little floral trees
themselves; while from every part of it came a continuous hum, as the
bees and other insects rifled the honeyed treasures and bore them away.

"Oh!" at last burst out Fred, in perfect rapture; "oh! don't I wish
Mamma and Papa were here! I never did know how beautiful the country
was."

"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed his cousins, each holding one of his hands; "come
along, that's nothing to what we are going to show you."

And away they raced through the gate, and across the little common to
the pond in the corner, where the golden furze-bushes hung over the
side.

Philip was right: it was a pretty pond. Such water--clear, bright, and
deep, with all kinds of water-plants growing therein; golden lilies,
silvery water buttercups, tall reeds, short thin rushes with their
little cottony tufts, taller ones with brown tassels; and stout
bulrushes, with their brown pokery seed-stems, growing tantalisingly out
of reach. Such silvery bright smooth water, with bright blue beetles
skimming about over the surface; and that skating spider that skims
about over water with his long legs as easily as if it were ice, without
giving a thought as to the possibility of sinking. Then down in the
clear depths where Fred was peering, every now and then boatman beetles
could be seen rowing about with their little pairs of oars, lying upon
their backs to make boats of themselves--curious little fellows that by
night come out of the water, and, opening a pair of cases, send out a
bright and beautiful pair of wings, and fly about through the air till
the morning.

"Oh! look at the little crocodiles!" cried Fred, to the intense delight
of his cousins, as the showily-dressed newts went sailing easily through
the clear water, with waving crests and lithe tails--such gay little
fellows, with orange throats; while swimming about in chase of one
another by myriads were the sticklebacks, of which the lads had come in
quest.

Darting about over the pond were hundreds of dragon-flies, thin-bodied