OF A FLEDGLING 249 



sibility for which I was unfit. That is the truth 

 of the matter. 



But, had I washed my hands of the affair, had I 

 left the parent birds and the yellow cat to decide 

 the fate of the fledgling between them, should I 

 feel any happier than I do ? I trow not. 



I wish the little thing, when it tumbled from its 

 nest, had taken some other road than that which 

 led it by the garden window. This summer how 

 many Wiltshire chicks have essayed a too early 

 flight and perished miserably of cold or at the fangs 

 of predatory beasts ? Who shall say ? I know 

 there must have been many thousands of them. 

 But the knowledge disturbs me no wit. In the 

 same way I know that thousands of human babies 

 die every year because their ignorant fathers and 

 mothers take insufficient care of them. And I 

 cannot pretend that I suffer acutely because of 

 this. But if a child that I loved were among 

 them 



It is only because the fate of this particular 

 fledgling was forced on my notice that I am dis- 

 tressed. Being distressed, I feel resentment but 

 against whom, against what ? The chick ? That 

 were folly. The parent birds ? That were worse. 

 They were getting food for the little thing. They 

 cannot possibly be blamed. Myself remains. Yet, 

 knowing nothing of birds, I was on the horns of a 



