Ladyday to Whitsunday 
are also in flower, but I do not care much for ces belles 
tigtees. 
May 20. — Boy and I found the nest of a little bird, 
which, I think, must be that of a sandpiper or water 
laverock. A neat little grey and white quaker of a bird 
with £C a lang neb,” as Gardener says — he calls it a water- 
ouzel — which flirts its tail and hops from stone to stone 
about the low water in the river, crying, “ Pwee pwee.” It 
has many curious local names, such as Kittie Needle, Willy 
Wicket, Weet weet, Kittie Leepsie, Summer Snipe and Water 
Craw. At first the nest, which was merely a depression in 
the grass of the river bank, only contained four brown 
chocolate-splotched eggs, rather like a plover’s egg; but 
the following day we found four downy black and white 
long-billed bright-eyed tinies, with a dark stripe down their 
backs like Arab donkeys. And such was their spirit of 
enterprise, that the very day they came out of the egg in 
the afternoon we found the nest empty and the four little 
rovers afield in the neighbouring grass, while “ Mammy ” 
was out by the river ! Said Boy, “ Naughty sandpipers to 
run out while their mammy was away, and no one to see to 
their house. They ought to have servants.” 
“ Servants,” I said; “ what kind of servants ? ” 
“ Bird servants, of course ! ” The next day they were all 
away together. 
May 25. — The Yellow Day-lily ( Hemerocallis /lava) is out 
now, and purple and white Iris, old-time Flower de Luce ; 
down by the river, the marsh-marigolds are in clumps. 
Soucis is the French name, meaning also “ cares,” and there 
is a pretty old French carol in which there is a mention of 
this flower, sometimes also, I believe, called Fleur de Marie. 
I amused myself once translating this carol, and a pretty 
girl-cousin set it to music, and used to sing it to her 
guitar. 
CAROL 
Between the ox and grizzled ass 
Softly sleeps the little Son ; 
A thousand angels in the sky, 
A thousand seraphs hover nigh 
45 
