Seen and Lost. 
371 
could not, of course, have turned round in so narrow 
a passage, and so always went in at one end and 
left by the other. On visiting the spot on the 
fourth day I found, to my intense chagrin, that the 
delicate fabric had been broken and thrown down 
by some animal ; also, that the birds had utterly 
Small Spine-tail and Nest. 
vanished — for I sought them in vain, both there and 
in every weedy and thistly spot in the neighbour- 
hood. The bird without the nest had seemed a 
useless thing to possess ; now, for all my pains, I 
had only a wisp of fine dry grass in my hand, and 
no bird. The shy, modest little creature, dwelling 
B b 2 
