10 BIRDS' NESTS. 



to-day, I should have been flogged hand- 

 somely." 



Joe made no reply; but if his thoughts 

 could have been heard, they would have been 

 these : " I am not sorry that my being with 

 you has saved you from a flogging ; but I will 

 take care not to be caught again with any one 

 who deserves one." 



Henry had been standing by all the while, 

 listening attentively to what passed. He was 

 very angry with the boys for breaking into his 

 father's orchard, but still very glad that they 

 had neither been flogged nor been taken 

 before a magistrate. The bird's nest was, 

 however, as great an attraction to him as it 

 had been to the others. He had frequently 

 looked up at the hole in the tree, and now 

 while his father was busied in repairing the 

 broken fence, he asked him if he knew what 

 bird it was that the boys had caught ? 



" Yes," said Mr. Miller ; " a nuthatch." 



"What, that funny bird that sticks nuts 



