THE REDWING 
III 
The celandines faded, and their places were 
taken by anemones and alehoof. The elm- 
tree's red buds came on apace, and the willows 
were tasselled with gold. The chattering 
" clack " of the fieldfares was never heard now, 
and the throstles and blackbirds were in full 
song. Lovesick wood-pigeons flapped in and 
out of the ash-trees, and three primroses opened 
where February had only seen one. Every 
forenoon a throstle worked industriously at her 
nest in the hedge, and one morning a chiff- 
chafF piped windily up the glen. 
Shacaim was still a pensioner on the bounty of 
Mrs. Maguire and her hens. Although his 
wounded wing had healed completely, and he 
had learned to run as swiftly and as silently as 
a corncrake, yet his powers of flight were gone 
irredeemably, and he could not have left the 
Glen even had he wished. Night after night 
he roosted in the cave among the ivy roots, 
and its dusty floor was patted hard by his claws. 
Here he was safe when the rats came out 
after dark. They had well-trampled paths 
through the cabbages, but they seldom came 
as far as the hedge. Which was well for 
Shacaim, for many litters were born in the 
bank that spring, and the parents were hungry. 
'57 
