you can hardly ever get near them there."

"They aren't in England either," said Dulcie, "though our gamekeeper
told us that if you can just chance to see them when they first leave
the nest, they don't know what fear is. He once found some newly-hatched
wild ducks, and they were perfectly unafraid, but when he passed the
place half an hour later, the mother duck gave a call, and the little
ones wouldn't let him come anywhere near them. They'd had their lesson,
and learnt fear."

"I once brought up a starling that had tumbled out of a nest," said
Prissie, "and it was always perfectly tame, and would let me stroke it,
and would perch on my hand. I had it for years. Do you think we could
have kept the whitethroats?"

"No, no!" said Carmel quickly. "I'd as soon think of caging fairies! It
would be a shame to take them out of this lovely wood; it's their
fairy-land. I'm so glad Sir Ranald doesn't allow boys to come in here! I
thought at first it was rather selfish of him, but I begin to
understand. There must be some quiet places left where the birds can be
undisturbed. I'm glad to have seen these!"

Miss Walter's whistle, sounding loudly in the distance, recalled them
to the path. They found the school very excited over a heronry which
they could see on an island in the lake. Some large untidy nests were in
the trees, and every now and then a heron, with long legs outstretched
behind it, would sail majestically through the air from the mainland.

"It would be a very fishy place if we could get near," remarked Miss
Hardy. "All the ground underneath the nests would be strewn with bones
and remains. The herons fly a tremendous long way in search of food,
sometimes a radius of as much as forty miles. Look! there's one fishing
in the lake over there."

"I like the whitethroats best," said Dulcie. "I shouldn't care to hold a
young heron in my hand and cuddle it!"

At the lower end of the lake was a hill-side, and down the slopes Sir
Ranald had caused to be planted a little forest of rhododendrons. They
were in their prime, and stretched a beautiful mass of every shade from
crimson to pink and lavender. On the top of the hill was a summer-house,
a temple-like building with pillars and steps, and here, by arrangement,
they expected the lodge-keeper's wife to supply them with boiling water
for their tea. It looked an ideal place for a picnic, and they started
at once to climb the steep path that led among the rhododendrons t