68 THE NEST AMONG THE FLOWERS. 



minutes, or upon an average, thirty-six times in an hour ; and this 

 continued for full sixteen hours in a day, which would amount to 

 seventy- two feeds daily for each, if equally divided between the eight 

 young ones, amounting, in the whole, to five hundred and seventy-six. 

 ' From examination of the food,' says the Colonel, * which by acci- 

 dent now and then dropped into the nest, I judged, from those 

 weighed, that each feed was a quarter of a grain upon an average, so 

 that each young one was supplied with eighteen grains weight in a 

 day; and, as the young birds weighed about seventy-seven grains 

 when they began to perch, they consumed nearly their weight of 

 food in four days at that time. I could always perceive by the ani- 

 mation of the brood when the old one was coming ; probably some 

 low note indicates her approach, and, in an instant, every mouth was 

 open to receive the insect morsel.' 



When we made our annual pilgrimage last year to Mr. Waterer's, 

 at Knapp Hill, we were attracted even surrounded as we were 

 by that wilderness of sweets, that assemblage of all that is rich and 

 delicate in colour, where the azalias and rhododendrons form one 

 splendid mass of bloom, almost too beautiful for this earth by one 

 of these little birds that had her nest in a yew hedge, skirting one 

 of the paths. An intelligent lad pointed out the ' procreant cradle,' 

 ut in his hand, and took out one of the young ones, then nearly 

 edged. After it had been viewed and admired, for it was very 

 pretty, as most young birds are not, he replaced the tiny creature, 

 and, to the enquiry whether the parents would not forsake the nest, 

 if so disturbed, he replied in the negative, adding that they were 

 old acquaintance, and ' didn't mind,' for he often took the young 

 ones out to ' see how they got on.' As soon as the nestling was 

 restored to its happy home, the parent, who had been watching the 

 proceedings from a neighbouring rhododendron, gorgeous with 

 flowers, among which her small bright streaks of a crest still shone 

 brilliantly, repaired to her family, and covered them with her wings 

 as if nothing had happened. 



Bishop Mant, in describing the month of November, thus 

 introduces the little Goldcrest : 



And such, with voice so sweet and small, 

 From oaken twig, the madrigal 

 Of him the bird of Golden Crest, 

 And size diminutive, the least 

 Of Britain's Warblers. To the ear 

 More frequent through the waning year, 

 Comes the sweet note from flocks that seek, 

 From Hyperborean mountains bleak, 

 Our milder glens. But as they wind 

 Bound oak or elm's deep-furrowed rind, 



p 

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