152 More Tales of the Birds 



since ; and it was in that nest that my old Mag 

 was born, and I was born within sight of it. 



"Of course, we knew of it, we boys of the 

 village, and we'd have been up there often, 

 only that tree was a bad one to climb, as the 

 magpie knew very well. Easy work when you 

 got to the branches, but, unlike most elms, this 

 one had fifteen feet of big broad stem before you 

 reached them. None of us could get up that 

 fifteen feet, though the bark was rough and we 

 could get some hold with fingers and toes ; 

 sooner or later we were sure to come slipping 

 down, and it was lucky for us that the grass 

 was long and soft below. 



"Well, when it's a matter of fingers and toes, 

 a girl is as good as a boy, if she has some 

 strength and pluck, and it was a girl that showed 

 me how to climb that tree. Nelly Green was her 

 name ; we were fast friends, she and I, and it 

 was between us two that the solemn treaty and 

 alliance as the newspapers say was concluded, 

 by which we were to get possession of a young 

 magpie. First it was agreed that when we had 

 got our bird (we began at the wrong end, you 



