SOME FEATHERED BUILDERS 7 



martil life. They run an' hollered an' walloped 

 about, but they stuck on. Sum on 'em was 

 head down'ards at times, but they niver let goe 

 ther hold ; they nipped holt o' the twigs an' 

 branches with their beaks, as well as with their 

 rope-yarn feet. We wus 'bliged tu give the 

 job up, an' I warn't no ways sorry over it ; 

 they'd let us see the natur of 'em." 



All the accomplishments possessed by those 

 fully-fledged young herons I could have vouched 

 for, and added to, from my own experiences. 



So, as boy Will had told mother on his last 

 visit to her that he " reckined sum o' them old 

 herns waunted tu nest agin' on a bit o' his beat," 

 mother had passed the information over to me, 

 with the comforting remark that "it waun't fur 

 to go." 



If eight miles across country, now up, now 

 down, can be considered near, I wondered what 

 the worthy old soul considered some distance 

 away from home. 



But the dewy freshness of a bright May 

 morning made up for all fatigue. There were 

 great trees, their trunks in many instances 

 clothed with a luxuriant growth of ivy, with 

 stems as thick as small trees, twining round 

 and about in all directions, the young foliage 



