A DAY IN ELYS I AN FIELDS. 97 



there we were weatherbound for nearly three hours ; 

 the rain came pouring down, thunder rolling, and 

 lightning flashing all the time. We smoked and told 

 tales, and did what we could pour passer le temps. 

 A game of marbles would have been a relief, but taws 

 were wanting. By way of a little diversion one of 

 these chaps came sidling up to us, with a leary look on 

 his face and a twinkle in his eye, and said, in a low 

 tone, as if he did not want all the world to know, 

 " Would erra one o' you gents like to take 'ome to your 

 famblies a pair o' nice young singing larks ? I knows to 

 a nest down in yander bushes." 



" Well," I said, " I should like to see a lark's nest ; 

 come and show it to me. " 



So we trudged off through the rain and the long wet 

 grass, and, as we reached the spot, two hundred yards 

 off, the mother bird flew out of the bush, and flitted 

 round in sore trouble. There across a deep ditch, and 

 hidden away among the brambles, I saw the nest, and 

 in it a couple of young nearly flush larks, with their 

 mouths wide open. 



" Pretty little innocents ! " I cried, sentimentally, 

 "I would not touch them for all the world, and 

 I strongly advise you, my friend, to keep your hands 

 off them." 



"Why?" said this young ruffian. 



" Why," said I, " did you never hear of an Act of 

 Parliament called the 'Wild Birds Protection Act ? ' 

 Touch those birds, and you render yourself liable 

 to twelve months' imprisonment, bread and water, 

 hard labour, and a cat-o'-nine tails to finish you up 

 with." 



H 



