126 LETTERS TO MARCO xix 



launched from their nests into the open. 

 They get scattered about in the garden and 

 shrubberies in the most aggravating manner, 

 their parents having all their work cut out to 

 defend and provide for them, many sooner or 

 later falling victims to cats, rats, weasels, or 

 boys. When brought to you by the children 

 it is hard to know what to do ; it seems cruel 

 to abandon them altogether, and restoring 

 them to their parents is a much more difficult 

 thing to do than most people would imagine. 

 I generally take them into the greenhouse, 

 where at any rate the cats cannot get at them, 

 and endeavour to keep them alive for a time 

 until they have sufficient wing-power to shift for 

 themselves. Feeding them is an endless task. 

 Every hour I give them worms, for which 

 food their beaks and throats are wonderfully 

 adapted, the tongues having barbs to them 

 which render the escape of the worms impos- 

 sible ; but it is fifty to one that on visiting the 

 bird on the second morning it will be found 

 stretched out stiff and ugly on the ground 



