MAY, 1882. 171 



dredge ! ' Then sit down for an hour or two per day 

 under the shadow of a great tree or even a little one 

 and tell us one-half the wonders a pocket lens will bring 

 before you, and study the ways of one-half the creatures 

 whose world goes little beyond the one " planet " com- 

 prised in an oak-tree, or a larch, and you will never weary 

 for want of a subject to think about, or an object to 

 examine. We are obliged to turn away startled at the 

 embarrass des richesses^ and unable properly to appreciate 

 the immensity of our ignorance. 



Quietly now ! just come up this garden walk to the 

 side of the sparsely clad beech hedge. Never mind the 

 bee-hive ; pass it quietly, gently, and confidently, for there 

 is nothing like haste or excitement to alarm any living 

 creature, wild or tame. Here, now ! just behind the hive 

 in the hedge, and don't be exuberant. Her eye glints 

 up at you so deprecatingly as she sits there "hoping, 

 fearing," with a look as if to say " I'm only a weak, little 

 she-blackie, very foolish, and only too confiding ; please 

 don't !" Of course we " please to don't " and slip away, 

 for we know there are three callow nestlings under her, 

 and an unhatched egg still an object of hope. Just 

 about three feet from the ground, three feet from a bee- 

 hive, in an open hedge and a fine fruit garden ! Such 

 a tempting of Providence, and yet she escapes with her 

 young brood. The redbreast at Ledaig garden, too, has 

 already added to the bird life of the district, and the 

 cosy nests of the chaffinches have for some time been 

 seen in snug situations on bush and tree. We have 

 already come upon two wren's nests about finished. 

 One is very badly concealed in an upturned root of a 

 tree, and will probably never be occupied if the shrewd 

 little bird takes note of its surroundings ; while the other 



