52 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



beetle, though small, secretes a powerfully acrid 

 juice, which makes each experience a moment of 

 agony. The starling knows all about this awakening 

 of nature, too, for when the sun shines you can see 

 him walking about and making absurd skips up into 

 the air to catch the little insects that are joyously 

 whizzing into life all over the pasture. A week 

 earlier some of the small bats resumed their fluttering 

 beats under the overhanging willows and between 

 sheltering avenues ; and on the day after, the first 

 egg, a song-thrush's, was found in the garden, and 

 the first wild duck's egg was discovered by the trout- 

 stream. This, however, was picked up from the 

 edge of the water, where the first wild ducks' eggs 

 are very commonly laid and wasted. The same 

 thing probably happens much oftener than we sus- 

 pect with the eggs of other birds, when the weather 

 vacillates in spring, and the male birds lose their 

 interest in family affairs. 



IMPATIENJT HUSBANDS. 



For, however small k share he may take in the 

 subsequent care of the iggs, it is generally the male 

 bird who fixes the date and place for nesting. When 

 the weather is fine and w^rm he is full of fuss about 

 the business, inducting h\s wife to their new home 

 with as much officious ptide as any human bride- 

 groom. When the nest is\ready, and he thinks that 

 it ought to be filled withleggs, he becomes more 

 and more insistent that hia wife shall do her duty. 

 Among tame pigeons, or tha half-tame wood-pigeons 

 of the London parks, you may often see the male 



