76 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



as a boy, I have been in close touch with the 

 cuckoo's mate. It is a most interesting and 

 gentle creature, one that ought to be protected 

 in every way when it visits us. Not that it 

 has suffered much, as some birds have ; for 

 there is some dim sentiment about this crea- 

 ture, or a superstition, that wrynecks are best 

 left alone. In some places, the strange postures 

 that the bird indulges in at times when pro- 

 curing food have caused it to be regarded as 

 somewhat uncanny by our rustics. 



With the diminutive tree-creeper, curiously 

 mottled with dark-brown, white, and yellowish 

 brown, a bird well known to every country 

 child, we close. Searching in the mouse-like 

 fashion, very different to the dashing activity 

 of the first four birds on our list, the small 

 creature, in its unobtrusive manner, does its 

 appointed work equally well. 



If these birds were not about to clear timber 

 from injurious insects, there would not be such 

 glorious trees standing ; for their searching 

 investigations are carried on the whole year 

 round, the dead of winter not excepted. From 

 what I have seen, there is not much fear of 

 their suffering from collectors, or from those 

 who do not collect, but who perhaps require 



