132 IN NATURE'S WAYS 



food down gaping bills, just flashing in and flashing 

 out again, always being greeted by joyous sounds 

 from their family. Each of the parents gives a loud 

 chirp on darting away for a fresh beakful of insects, 

 as much as to say, " There ! be good till I come 

 again ! " 



At night there issues from the nest a curious low, 

 musical twittering sound, continued for hours, as if 

 the martins are birds of such restless energy, and such 

 birds of the air, that they ill brook the tedium of the 

 dark hours when no hunting is possible, and no feeding, 

 and there is nothing to do but lie abed and croon 

 lullabies. 



Friendly 



n. . While the cows are feeding in the moist low 



pasture, broods of wagtails, white and grey, run 

 round them, close up to their noses, and under their 

 very bodies, availing themselves of the flies that settle on their legs, 

 and probably finding worms and larvae that are roused by the tramp- 

 ling of their feet. 



Nature is such an economist, that the most incongruous animals 

 can avail themselves of each other I Interest makes strange friend- 

 ships. G. W. 



