AN IMPALED WOODCOCK. II 



Bell was a very eccentric old man, who lived on the shores 

 of a small and winding creek, which ran up from the Broad. 

 By trade he was a tailor, but he united to this the very different 

 occupation of a boat-builder, and filled up his spare time with 

 fishing and shooting wildfowl He was a close observer of the 

 habits of beasts, birds, and fishes, and was a great favourite 

 with the boys, whose visits he liked and encouraged. 



Stepping into the boat that lay moored in the boat-house, the 

 two boys rowed across a bend of the Broad and up the creek to 

 his cottage. The old man was at work in his yard, repairing the 

 bottom of a boat, while his old wife might be seen at the 

 window of the house putting the finishing-touches to the 

 Sunday coat of some village beau. 



" Good morning, Bell ; it is a fine day." 



" Good morning, young master. Yes, it is a fine day, but it 

 will be finer to-morrow. Yon robin sings higher in the poplar 

 this afternoon than he did this morning, and that is a sure sign 

 that finer weather is coming." 



" I never knew that before," said Frank. 



" No, you have not lived so long in the world as I have," 

 replied Bell ; " but I am glad you have come, for I have a very 

 strange sight to show you. Look here." 



He went into the cottage, and returned, bringing with him a 

 dry and withered branch, one end of which had been torn and 

 slit, probably by the wind, so that it was a sharp and jagged 

 spike. On the end of this was impaled a fine woodcock, dead 

 of course, and with the sharp piece of wood imbedded in its 

 breast. 



" Poor thing, how did it get into that fix ? " Jimmy exclaimed. 



" Well, sir, you see it was in this way. The birds, as you 

 know, are now coming from abroad I can hear great flocks of 

 them at night sometimes as they fly overhead calling to one 

 another and last night you know was pitch dark, so that this 

 woodcock, coming over at a great speed, flew against this sharp 

 branch in the dark and spiked itself. When I got up this 

 morning I saw it in that oak-tree, and I sent my boy up to cut 

 off the branch, and knowing you would like to have it, I kept 

 it, just as it was." 



" We are very much obliged to you, Bell, and we will mount 

 it and stuff it, just as it is. It will be an interesting thing to add 

 to our museum, won't it, Jimmy ? " 



