de the shells by breaking them against
the hard ground and stones. There! as I told you, you see at least a
dozen broken snail shells. I am sure the thrushes do a great deal of
good by destroying both snails and young slugs, and it is a pity their
labours are not more appreciated than they are. Lads in the village,
and great grown men from the collieries, are continually hunting for
the nests, eggs, or young of thrushes, and many other useful birds,
which they wantonly destroy. Now we get on the Duke's Drive, and
there, on a branch of a poplar tree, I see the great tit. Look at him;
he is the king of the titmice, and he seems to know it. He is a
restless fellow, like tits in general. Look at his black head and
breast, white cheeks and greenish back. Now, by one of his hooked
claws, he hangs suspended from a branch; now again he is clinging by
both legs; see how busy he is, examining the leaves and bark in search
for insects. But Major Tit is a bit of a tyrant sometimes and uses
that sharp short straight bill of his with deadly effect upon some of
his feathered companions, on whose heads he beats repeated blows till
he cracks the skulls and eats the brains! The marsh-tit and the
cole-tit are pretty common in this neighbourhood, we may often notice
them in our walks.

If Willy were to get over the hedge with his net and dip it amongst
the weeds of the pool, I dare say he will succeed in catching a few
water-insects, which he can put in his bottle and bring to me. Of
course the boy was delighted at the idea of dabbling with his net in
the water--boys generally get immense fun from such amusement, and
their clothes frequently not a little dirt. A weedy pond is a grand
place for naturalists, and various are the beautiful and strange forms
of animal life which are found there. Dipping amongst the duckweed and
water-crowfoot is always attended with numerous captures, and Willy's
bottle was soon full of active little creatures. Let us see what it
contains. A large beetle is very conspicuous amongst the contents, now
rushing to the top of the water, now sinking to the bottom, scattering
far and wide the tiny water-fleas, and other little creatures by the
strong and rapid movements of his swimming legs. This is the great
water beetle; we will sit down on this clump of poplar tree by the
side of the road, and take the beetle out and examine him; we must
take care he does not bite our fingers as we hold him, for his jaws
are power