WOOD-PIGEONS' NESTS. 87 



And then you put another crossways so " 

 " I know," said the quist. 



" Oh ! very well," said the magpie, with a 

 wicked oath which I won't repeat, " if you 

 know already, why do you come to me ? Ill 

 teach you no more ; " and away he flew. 



In consequence of this conceited impatience 

 of being taught, the quist to this day has 

 never known how to build a nest properly. 



I have generally found their nests in the 

 forks of old apple trees or pollards, or in the 

 midst of a very thick and ancient white- 

 thorn, always fashioned in the same old 

 primitive style, about a dozen twigs mixed 

 up anyhow, and on these comfortless twigs 

 the hen lays her two eggs and sits till she 

 hatches them, whilst her mate sits up aloft 

 singing 



" Coo-coo ! how many eggs have you ? " 

 and she replies 



" Coo-coo ! I've only poor two ! " 



Now the magpie is really a splendid archi- 

 tect, and if the original quist had had sense 

 enough and patience enough to take his 

 lessons with less conceit and greater zeal and 

 discretion, he would have had a more com- 

 fortable abode ; and who knows what the 

 consequence might have been ? His wife 

 might have produced more than the two eggs 



