206 EVERSLEY GARDENS 



at work, searching for worm or grub, and 

 finding them too. I have never yet had the 

 patience to count how many he consumes in 

 half-an-hour : but merely to watch him for 

 a few minutes through field-glasses shows 

 what hundreds of worms and insects a single 

 bird can devour in one day. 



And how these poor birds toil for their 

 families in the Summer ! The arrogant 



" Ouzel cock so black of hue, with orange-tawny bill," 



was sadly put upon by two fully-fledged 

 children last year ; and I really was glad of 

 it at first, for his pride needed taking down. 

 They were perfectly capable of getting their 

 own living ; and if the exhausted parent found 

 nothing, these fat, speckled young rogues 

 would work on their own account behind 

 his back. But no sooner did he acquire a 

 good long worm for his own breakfast, than 

 both his offspring with loud cries, gaping 

 beaks, and quivering, trailing wings, took on 

 starving baby manners, and he had to yield 

 it up, in bits, to their importunities. One 



