14 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 
old. They were being devoured alive by ants. . . . I put 
the nestlings out of their misery, but felt miserable myself for 
the remainder of that golden afternoon, thinking that many 
similar tragedies to that were being enacted in the Bush. The 
odour and fragrance of the wattle bloom along the creek and 
the blithe songs of birds failed to cheer for the time.” 
He also described finding the nest of a song-thrush (our 
English bird) with nestlings in a similar state. 
