BOYHOOD. 3 



away. My knowledge of them was not obtained 

 from books, but from everyday observation. Of 

 course I knew about the swifts and swallows, their 

 presence or absence was too marked not to be noted. 

 Besides, I had seen hundreds of them in long rows on 

 the tops of barns start off all together at a given signal 

 to cross the sea, and not be seen again for many 

 months. The cuckoo's coming and going was another 

 matter which awakened lively interest. To give even 

 a list of the birds to be found on this one farm would 

 take up more space than can be spared. On looking 

 through a list of Herefordshire birds by the late Dr. 

 Bull, 1 I find but few that I was not acquainted with. 



At various times of my boyish career I kept a small 

 menagerie of beasts and birds owls and guinea-pigs, 

 rabbits and squirrels, magpies, daws, and turtle-doves, 

 and at one time a young fox, though that artful 

 dodger soon found a way out of prison. 



I have had many a narrow escape and many awk- 

 ward falls, from my propensity for climbing trees any 

 tree that I could grip I could go up for magpies' or 

 jays' or rooks' nests ; but of all the nests I have seen 

 none were equal to those of Jenny Wren. They were 

 perfect little gems of moss lined with wool and hair, 

 covered over and cosy, the small entrance being at the 

 side. I have found them hanging on a small thorn bush 



1 Dr. Bull's " Notes on the Birds of Herefordshire " is a most 

 delightful book. He was an admirable ornithologist, and loved 

 the birds he describes so well. He mentions another charming 

 book, published in 1851, as being now out of print, " The Songs 

 of the Birds," by the Rev. W. E. Evans, Canon of Hereford. 

 It has since been reprinted and published by Sampson Low 

 and Company. 



