154 FROM SPRING TO FALL. 



It is practicable up to a certain limit to make a 

 collection of birds' nests, but beyond that limit it is 

 a very difficult matter. 



The last magpie's nest I had the pleasure of ex- 

 amining at close quarters was in a wheelbarrow : 

 it had been cut out bodily from the tree it was built 

 in, by my sturdy musical friend Tommy. As I 

 stood lost in admiration at the wonderful skill of the 

 bird in lacing and interlacing all sorts of prickly 

 twigs and trailing bits of branches over the opening 

 that formed her nest, where she had just room to 

 step in at one end and out at the other, Tommy 

 remarked — "That a magpie could git in and out all 

 right, but it would puzzle the devil to foller her. 

 I've hed to put on hedgin'-gloves, an' cut about with 

 a bill-hook, to get this 'ere fur ye to look at," he 

 added. 



The carrion-crow, Charles Waterton's warrior- 

 bird, is in the eyes of many nothing less than a 

 feathered power of evil. When will all these false 

 ideas about our creatures be altered ? The opinions 

 about this special bird vary to a degree, and some 

 woodland prejudices are really as strong now as 

 they were when I was a boy. I do not now know 



