aid Puss, creeping nearer and
nearer. "That piece of yours, where you whistle first, and then make
that sweet repetition, which sounds like somebody saying `stutter' a
great many times over very quickly. Now, do, now; you folks that can
sing always want so much pressing."

Poor Specklems! he hardly knew what to do at first; but he had wit
enough to be upon his guard while he sang two or three staves of his
song.

By this time Puss had managed to creep within springing distance of poor
Specklems; and just in the midst of one of her smooth oily speeches she
made a jump, open-mouthed and clawed, but missed her mark, for the
starling gave one flip with his wing and was out of reach in an instant,
and then, with a short skim, he alighted on the thin branch of a
neighbouring tree, where he sat watching his treacherous enemy, who had
fared very differently. Crash went Mrs Puss right through the prickly
branches of the cedar, and came down with her back across the handle of
the birch-broom, which still stuck in the tree, and made her give such
an awful yowl, that the birds all came flocking up in time to see Mrs
Puss go spattering down the rest of the distance, and then, as a matter
of course, she fell upon her feet, and walked painfully away, followed
by the jeers of all the birds, who heard the cause of her fall, while
she went off spitting and swearing in a most dreadful manner, and
looking as though her tail had been turned into a bottle-brush, just at
the time her coat was so rough that it would be useful to smooth it.

Poor Mrs Puss, she nearly broke her back, and she went off to the top
of the tool-shed, where the sun shone warmly, and there she set to and
licked herself all over, till her glossy coat was smooth again, when she
curled herself up in a ball and went fast asleep, very much to the
discomfort of a pair of redstarts, who were busy building their nest
under the very tile Mrs Puss had chosen for her throne.

"A nasty, deceitful, old, furry, green-eyed, no-winged, ground-crawling
monster," said Mrs Specklems. "There I sat, with its nasty fish-hook
foot within two or three inches of my nose, and there it was opening and
shutting, and clawing about in such a way, that I turned all cold and
shivery all over, and I'm sure I've given quite a chill to the eggs; and
dear, dear, what a time they are hatching! Don't you think that if we
were both to sit upon them they would be done in half the time? Here
have I