ii4 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



that they are perfectly familiar with ; no one is 

 near. Along come the ducklings, all on the 

 pipe ; out rush the pair, and with one loud 

 quack the duck hits one with her wings and 

 knocks him over ; but, quick as thought, the 

 other has picked up one of the little pipers, and 

 off they go, over the meadows on the crest of 

 the hill to eat it. They could pick up common 

 fare round about that district, but they visited 

 the farms for luxuries, such as chicks and 

 ducklings. 



As pets they were not favourites ; you would 

 see twenty jackdaws to one magpie. The diffi- 

 culty of getting at some of the nests may have 

 had a little to do with this matter. The mag- 

 pie's nest is a large one, formed, in the first 

 place, of twigs and mud domed over, the inside 

 lined with fine roots. As this dome-work is, as 

 a rule, composed of all things that will tear 

 your hands, if a nest is built in a tree that 

 bends like a trout-rod before you have climbed 

 half way up it, that nest had better be let alone ; 

 and so it generally is. As luxuries are not to 

 be stolen, except at certain times, few and far 

 between, the magpie and his mate have to fall 

 back on what the fields, copses, and hedges 

 provide for them. 



