58 A. LONG DAY “WITH THE BIRDS 
late, so that cold winds and frost had not 
played havoc with the blossom. More flats, 
more villages and hills in the distance, and 
then the foreground filled up with plots well 
broken by the plough, intersected by many 
dykes, most of which were now covered with 
the myriad little white flowers of the water 
buttercup. And now to the nests. We had 
marked out a round for the day. On start- 
ing we could see far ahead several dozen sea- 
gulls feeding in a recently-ploughed field, 
their white bodies contrasting sharply with 
the dark soil. Our first steps were through 
a field of corn as yet only a foot high, a 
pathway being left through it diagonally 
as a short cut. Many skylarks were at home 
here, singing their joyous carols. Their nests 
are hard to find. The presence of a bird sing- 
ing Over any given spot does not mean that a 
nest is just there, for they are artful birds. 
They alight some distance from the nest and 
run to it. A favourite way with boys is to 
find the nests by dragging a piece of string 
across a field and so disturbing any sitting 
