110 THE SWAN AND HER CREW. 



bird had made the noise with intention to frighten him, and he 

 boldly put his hand into the hole and popped his fingers into 

 the gaping mouths of some young wrynecks. He nevertheless 

 felt carefully about, in hope of finding an addled e^g, and he 

 was not disappointed. There were two addled eggs, which he 

 brought down in safety. They were pure white, about the size 

 of a swift's. 



EGG OF WKYNECK. 



They now came to something in Dick's line. On a tall 

 nettle-top sat a small tortoiseshell butterfly opening and shutting 

 its wings with the fanning motion peculiar to its tribe. The 

 rays of sunlight falling through the foliage of the trees overhead 

 lit up the beauty of its red and black wings. Dick had not 

 his net with him, so taking off his cap, he made after the 

 butterfly, which launched into strong flight, and sailed away 

 out of the wood and over the meadows with Dick in hot 

 pursuit. 



Jimmy went on rambling through the wood, and presently 

 saw a small tree which divided into two branches about a 

 dozen feet from the ground. At this fork of the tree it was 

 split some distance down, and, in this split, some moss be- 

 tokened a nest of some kind. Jimmy threw a stone up, and 

 as it clattered against the tree, a bird like a torn-tit, but with 

 a black head, flew out. Jimmy watched it as it fluttered about 

 the blanches of the tree a few yards off, and soon carne to the 

 conclusion that it was a marsh-tit, and that its eggs were worth 

 having. 



He accordingly climbed up the tree, and found that he could 

 not reach the nest, which was too far down in the slit. By 

 dint, however, of sitting on one of the forks, and pushing with 

 all his might at the other, he succeeded in opening the crack 

 v/ide enough for him to insert his hand and reach the nest. 



