8 LIVING CREATURES. 



"I wonder at that," said William. "I am sure I 

 hardly took a step that did not delight me, and I have 

 brought home my handkerchief full of curiosities." 



PART 2. 



" SUPPOSE, then, you give us some account of what 

 amused you so much. I fancy it will be as new to 

 Robert as to me," suggested Mr. Andrews. 



"I will, sir," said William, cheerfully. "On the 

 road leading to the Heath, I spied a thing curious 

 enough, in the hedge. It was an old crab-tree out of 

 which grew a great branch of something green, quite 

 different from the tree itself. Here is a branch of it." 



"Ah!" exclaimed Mr. Andrews, "this is the mistle- 

 toe, a plant of great fame on account of the use made 

 of it by the Druids of old in their religious rites. It 

 is one of those plants which do not grow in the ground 

 by a root of their own, but fix themselves upon other 

 plants; whence it is styled a parasite." 



"A little further on," continued William, "! saw 

 a green woodpecker fly to a tree, and run up the trunk 

 like a cat. What beautiful birds they are ! When I 

 got upon the open heath, how charming it was! The 

 air seemed so fresh, and the prospect so free and wide ! 

 Then it was all covered with gay flowers, many of 

 which I had never seen before. I saw several birds 

 that were new to me. There was a flock of lapwings 

 that amused me much. As I came near, some of 

 them kept flying round and round just over my head, 

 and crying pee-wit, so distinctly one might almost fancy 

 they spoke. I thought I should have caught one of 



