Birds-Nesting 5 



method of crossing was disdained. Down below the 

 curbing mill-dam the stream breaks away in laughing, 

 rippling rushes over stone and pebble, and past gorse 

 covert and bulrush and fern, and half the fun of 

 birds-nesting in the ruins lay in fording the stream, 

 and a goodly portion of the rest in coming back. It 

 is not particularly easy to get from stepping-stone to 

 stepping-stone with no other impedimenta than a pair 

 of boots and stockings slung round your neck ; but if 

 there are unblown starling's eggs in your cap, if there 

 are young jackdaws noisily cawing in your pockets 

 (and therewith perhaps a pair of featherless pigeons 

 which must on no account be hurt), if one hand is 

 taken up with a ruffing savage young owl, and if, 

 besides, you are a little tired with the excitement and 

 the toil of rifling these prizes from the lofty chambers 

 and high-placed crannies of the ruin, it is by no means 

 contemptible. Should dusk be come and the evening 

 star be glittering in the pool, a nervous parent would 

 sooner pay the ferryman in gold than see you attempt 

 the feat. But when the birds come safely home 

 which they generally do unless there is a slip in mid- 

 water, and callow nestlings and smashed eggs are 

 borne merrily to seaward (often with the adventurer's 

 loose clothing to keep them company) then all's 

 well that ends well, and the intelligent man is more 

 interested in the addition to his boy's aviary than in 

 thinking of perils which, however great and fearsome 

 they were, are ' gone and dead and done.' 



