' THE CRADLE WILL FALL ' 149 



is like a cluricaune's cap, with the opening below. 

 All the dirt had accumulated at one spot on the 

 lower edge, so evidently the birds must have clung 

 inside the hanging nest. Did you ever see one ? 

 I knew they hung. 



The flycatchers that built in the clematis are 

 gone ; I do not feel sure whether they got their 

 young away safely. If, as I believe, they laid 

 their eggs in the old thrush's nest (they were in 

 it, or very near), it was so accessible that I fear 

 they may have lost their eggs or their young ; at 

 all events they came no more. The thrushes' nest 

 in the black-currant bush against the garden wall 

 had a curious fate. The young birds were looking 

 very wise and nearly ready for flight one morning 

 when I went to look at them, and soon after the 

 old thrush was heard to scream out by Mrs. H., 

 who took no notice. When I next went, after 

 dinner, behold the currant bush had broken away 

 from the wall, and the nest w r as almost upside- 

 down, and, of course, empty. The nail and string 

 had given way. I searched in vain for any young 

 thrushes, but they must have got away safely to 

 M.'s shrubbery, as I soon heard them cheeping 

 sharply there. But one was, as usual, weaker 

 than the others, and that one, I think, must have 

 been left behind concealed under the rhubarb 

 leaves ; for two days after we found it under the 



