14 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



old. They were being devoured alive by ants. ... I put the 

 nestlings out of their misery, but felt miserable myself for the 

 remainder of that golden afternoon, thinking that many similar 

 tragedies to that were being enacted in the Bush. The odour 

 and fragrance of the wattle bloom along the creek and the 

 blithe songs of birds failed to cheer for the time." 



He also described finding the nest of a song -thrush (our 

 English bird) with nestlings in a similar state. 



