BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 77 



where he came every day just to have a peep at 

 a linnet's nest with four eggs in it on which the 

 bird was sitting; that the other boy, concealed 

 among the bushes had watched him go to the 

 nest and had then rushed up and pulled the nest 

 out of the bush. 



"Why didn't you knock him down?" I asked. 



^'That's what I tried to do before he pulled 

 the nest out" he said; and then he added sor- 

 rowfully: *'He knocked me down." 



I am reminded here of a tale of ancient Greece 

 about a boy of this description — the boy to be 

 found in pretty well every parish in the land. 

 This was a shepherd boy who followed or led 

 his sheep to a distance from the village and 

 amused his idle hours by snaring small birds to 

 put their eyes out with a sharp thorn, then to 

 toss them up just to see how, and how far, they 

 would fly in the dark. He was seen doing it and 

 the matter reported to the heads or fathers of 

 the village, and he was brought before them and, 

 after due consideration of the case, condemned 

 to death. Such a decision must seem shocking 

 to us and worthy of a semi-barbarous people. 

 But if cruelty is the worst of all offences — and 



