MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



They came while the builders were still 

 occupied in giving those "finishing touches" 

 which are never finished ; and they regarded 

 our arrival as an unwarrantable intrusion. 

 I could tell it from the aggrieved tone in 

 which they chirped and chattered : " Gross 

 infringement of the liberty of the subject ; " 

 " In England, every martin's nest is called 

 his castle ; " " Was it for this our fathers 

 fought and bled at Agincourt against the 

 intrusive sparrows ? " and so forth ad in- 

 finitum. But after a day or two, they cooled 

 down and established a modiis Vivendi, the 

 terms of the concordat being that we 

 mutually agreed to live and let live, they 

 under the eaves, and we in the interior. 

 Since then, this arrangement has been so 

 honourably carried out on both sides by the 

 high contracting parties, that the martins 

 allow us to stand close under them on the 

 garden terrace, and watch while they bring 

 flies in their mouths to their callow young, 

 which poke out their gaping mouths at the 



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