io8 



BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



feathers, and may his detestable spinx, spinx, never resound 

 in my garden again. Poor hfeless chaffinch ! whose energies 

 are exhausted in nest-building. Poor unproductive dullard 

 who sings once a year and steals the rest of the season. 

 Hardy thou as the sparrow, uselessly and clumsily living by 

 thieving, grudging of song, dull in mien as a preacher, gayer 

 in winter, and gayest for a brief period in spring, thou lover 

 of winter bachelorhood, thou bird dear to the phlegmatic 

 German, good-bye ! Once a year, for a short season, you 

 silly nest-betraying male are tolerable, but for the rest of 

 the year — well, there is the sea, and dear Germany — go seek 

 it, and perish, spittking as you perish, you living chromo- 

 lithograph. 



CHAFFINXH S NEST AND EGGS. 



