138 Nests. 



in the withy bed by the brook, settling on the 

 slender willow wands. There they twitter together 

 for an hour or more every evening. They can rise 

 without the slightest difficulty from the ground, if it 

 is level and not encumbered with grass, as from the 

 surface of the roads. On dull cold days they settle 

 on the house more frequently than when it is bright 

 and sunny. 



At one end of the farmhouse, which is an irregular 

 building, there is a- quiet gable, and in it a casement 

 arched over by the thatch and shaded by a thick 

 growth of ivy. The casement is low, and not more 

 than eight or nine feet from the ground ; the ivy has 

 climbed the wall, it has spread too over the massive 

 wall of the garden which just there abuts upon the 

 house, so that there is a secluded corner formed by 

 the angle. Here some time ago a number of logs of 

 timber oak, such as are sawn up into posts for field 

 gateways were left leaning half against the garden 

 wall, half against the house, just under the window. 

 There they have remained (there is never any hurry 

 about things in the country) so long that the moss 

 has begun to encase the lower portions. What with 

 the projecting thatch, the thick ivy, the timber thrown 

 carelessly beneath, the lichen-grown garden wall, and 

 a large bush of lilac in the angle, the place could 

 hardly be more quiet, and is consequently a favorite 

 resort of the birds. 



Within reach from the window the swallows have 

 their nests, and the sparrows their holes, on the right 

 hand ; within reach on the left hand, among the ivy, 

 the water-wagtail has built her nest year after year. 

 The wagtail may always be seen about the place 



