274 THE LAND'S END 



Whereupon one of the boys produced a second 

 robin from his jacket pocket, and when I took it 

 from him the other boy pulled out two more robins 

 from his pockets and handed them to me. 



" Now look here," I began in my severest tone, and 

 proceeded to give them a lecture on their unkindness 

 in taking young robins, and did not forget to quote 

 Blake on the subject, for of all birds the robin was the 

 least fitted to be made a prisoner, and so on until 1 

 finished. 



But the boys showed no sense of guilt or repent- 

 ance and were no more disturbed at my words than 

 the robins were at being handled, and at length one of 

 them said that they had no intention of taking the 

 birds home. 



" What, then, did you have them in your pockets 

 for ? " I demanded. 



He replied that they put them in their pockets just 

 to keep them out of my sight. They were playing 

 with the birds when I found them, and they had 

 known the nest since it was made, and every day after 

 the young had come out one or both of them had 

 paid them a visit, and they always brought a small 

 supply of caterpillars to feed the robins with. 



It was quite true, the tameness of the four young 

 robins sitting on our hands and knees was a proof of it. 

 From time to time while we sat there with them the old 

 birds flew down near us just to take a look round as 

 it seemed and then flew off again, but by and by when 

 we put them back on their little platform the parents 

 came and fed them close to our side. 



