BIRDS' NESTS. 119 



and stand on the steps outside. The wheel is 

 set in motion by their weight, and as one step 

 sinks under their fipet, they are obliged to take 

 another, or they will have their shins bruised. 

 The labour is so severe that only strong men 

 can stand it ; and it is imposed as a punish- 

 ment on thieves, and other criminals, who have 

 been sent to prison. Now, a squirrel's cage is 

 a treadmill, except that the poor animal works 

 alone, instead of in company; and, for my part, 

 I see no reason why he should be shut up in 

 a prison and treated as a rogue all his days 

 for the amusement of cruel people, who, I dare 

 say, deserve such treatment much more than 

 he does." 



While this conversation was going on, the 

 father and son had reached a part of the road 

 where a labourer was cutting down a hedge. 

 They stopped to speak to him, and the man, 

 observing that Henry carried an egg in his hand, 

 the one which they had taken just before from 

 the lesser whitethroat's nest, said 



