st little bird's nest he can find, and turns the poor
occupant away. When we reached the tree where the cuckoo was, we saw it
sitting on a small nest throwing out the eggs of a poor little bird, who
was screaming in anger at the intruder.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

When I told Harry what the cuckoo had been doing, he wanted to throw a
stone at it, but I told him that this cuckoo was only doing what all
other cuckoos did, and that the poor little bird would soon build itself
another nest. As we walked on, still by the side of the wood, Harry saw
something jumping about in the boughs of a tree; and presently another
followed it: they were two squirrels, with their long bushy tails curled
over their backs, and their ears pricked up to hear the slightest noise.
As soon as they saw Harry looking at them they both leaped away, and we
lost them in the branches of a large oak. To look after the squirrels
we had climbed over the hedge, so we were walking a little way in the
wood. Presently I heard the call of a pheasant; and as we walked
further, we came to some brush-wood, under which were two old birds and
their young ones. They all flew away at our approach; but the old
cock-pheasant left two of his tail-feathers in the brush-wood, which
Harry soon picked up to decorate his hat with.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The next bird that caught our notice was a fly-catcher. It was sitting
on a bramble catching bees and flies, and so intently was it watching
for them, that it did not even notice our presence, till Harry tried to
put his hand on it, but then away it flew with a fine chattering.

We now left the wood, and taking the foot-path to the left, went along
till we came to the road. Just by the stile sat a girl, who had been
gathering dried sticks in the wood, where her father was cutting down
trees. She had tied up the sticks into a bundle, and was sitting on them
to rest herself, because they were so heavy. She asked me to help her to
put them on her head; this I did, and then she thanked me, and trudged
on, singing as merrily as a lark in the sky.

[Illustration]

Now we came to a bridge over a wide river. I mounted Harry astride the
parapet, and there we stopped for some minutes to look at the boats as
they passed under us, and to watch two swans which were sailing up the
river with their great wings spread out for sails, and their necks so
proudly bent that they looked like the king and queen of the r