'BY STREAM AND RIVER' 



155 



enjoyed it, and partly because he wanted to show 

 her that he was just as good a builder as she was. 

 There was a great deal of angry talk when I helped 

 myself to the young ones, but their voices were so 

 high and squeaky that I could not very well hear 

 what was being said with my head and ears stuck 

 right into a bag of moss lined wdth warm feathers. 

 I gathered, however, that, among a good deal of 

 very strong abuse of myself, various remarks were 

 made about the position of the nest. I distinctly 

 heard someone say, ' I knew that my place was the 

 best,' and I could guess who said it. 



I know very well that if I had had a wife at the 

 time she could not possibly have made things 

 more comfortable than I did. In the first place, 

 she would have been far too full of hurry and 

 bustle to please me ; and, in the second place, the 

 bed would have been far too stuffy and feathery. 

 The whole summer was mine, and no one seemed 

 disposed to hurt or annoy me, so I just took my 

 time and put in a bit more every day, poking 

 about to find the very best material hidden away 

 at the roots of cool green rushes and sedge. 

 Unless you have ever tried it, you have no idea 

 how jolly it is to feel your bed growing a tiny bit 

 bigger every day. When I felt too hot — and the 



