BIRDS IN A VILLAGE. 
67 
various species that possess it, this perilous instinct 
has been washed in blood and made bright. 
After admiring the reed bunting's action, I turned 
to the dwarf bush near my feet, and saw, perched 
on a twig in its centre, a solitary young bird, fully 
fledged but not yet capable of sustained flight. 
He did not recognize an enemy in me; on the 
contrary, when I approached my hand to him he 
opened his yellow mouth wide in expectation of 
being fed, although his throat was crammed with 
caterpillars, and the white crescent-shaped larva 
I had seen in the parent bird's bill was still lying 
in his mouth unswallowed. The wonder is that 
when a young bird has been stuffed with food to 
such an extent just before sleeping time, he can 
still find it in him to open his mouth and call for 
more. 
Among the rarer fringilline birds on the common 
were the cirl bunting, bullfinch, and goldfinch, the 
last two very seldom seen. But the linnets were 
abundant, now gathered in small flocks composed 
mainly of young birds in plain plumage, with here 
and there an individual showing the carmine-tinted 
breast of the adult male. A dreary fate was in 
store for many of these blithe-souled twitterers. 
On June 24, when walking towards the pool, 
I spied two recumbent human figures on a stretch 
