155 



true sportsman sees a trout jump within casting dis- 

 tance of him he does not wait until next day. 



Some folks are fearfully slow to see which way 

 their noses point; I hope I am not, for when chances 

 come my way I always take them. It was the proud 

 boast of Hector that he alwa3^s stood foremost in the 

 battle, not that he had someone behind him ; and so 

 far as I know White-throated Finches had never yet 

 been bred in England. In the words of the Ancient 

 Mariner, why should not I be 



" The first tliat ever burst 

 Into that sileut sea.?" 

 I determined, at any rate, to make a good try for it. 

 The chance of doing something exciting is a chance I 

 have never the strength of mind to resist. 



Only at Whitsuntide I had met with a bitter dis- 

 appointment. My Bearded Tits had gone to nest, laid, 

 hatched, and despatched two fine youngsters at a week 

 old ; as I carried these little corpses into the house to 

 show to my "apparently" sympathising relatives, I 

 felt so dejected that I was reminded as I looked in the 

 glass of the 'Ruined Gambler' in the celebrated 

 picture of that name. So near had lain the Promised 

 lyaud, and yet like Moses I was not to reach it. 



With the coming of the White-throated Finches 

 hope once more set her bow in the cloud. All last 

 year they spent their time eating and drinking and 

 enjoying life. Once or twice they did fiy more or 

 less excitedly about the aviary, as though searching 

 for a suitable nesting-site, but it all ended in smoke. 



This year the season was well advanced before the 

 minds of my White-throated friends 



" Lightly turned to thoughts of love." 

 But when the}' did turn there was no mistake about it. 

 Up to now, I had always thought them a pair of nice 

 peaceful little things, suitable for illustrating Dr. 

 Watts' otherwise rather faulty natural history. The 



