Golden Oriole.—Landrail.—House-martins in trouble.—Siskin.—Peacock and Red Admiral Butterflies.—Winchat's Nest.—Bitten by a Viper.—Viper and Snake.—Slow-worm.

"Frank," said Mary at breakfast the next morning, "I have seen the most beautiful bird about the orchard and the wood next to it. It is about as big as a thrush, and is a bright yellow all over, except the wings, which are black. What can it be?"

"By Jove," said Frank, "there is only one bird that is like that; but it is so very rare that very few specimens have been seen in this country, and that is the golden oriole. Come and show me where it was at once, before I go to Mr. Meredith's."

Mary was nothing loath, and they hastily finished their breakfast and went out together. Scarcely had they got to the orchard when the gardener came towards them with a gun in one hand, and a dead oriole in the other. "I thought you would like to have him to stuff, Master Frank," said the man, and Frank took the bird and thanked him, and when they turned away Frank said,

"I am awfully sorry this has happened, Mary. The idea of shooting a rare bird like this at the breeding season. It must have been nesting here, and in a few weeks perhaps, there would have been a brood of young ones about. Let us go into the wood and look for its nest."

In a short time they saw its mate flying about from tree to tree, calling piteously; and after a little hunting Frank found a nest, which was like a missel thrush's, and placed in the fork of an oak branch. It contained four eggs, white in colour, covered with claret-coloured spots. Frank did not touch it, hoping that the remaining bird would sit and hatch the eggs; but she soon deserted it and left the neighbourhood, most probably to be shot, and the boys then took the eggs to add to their collection.

With the same vigour which characterised their out-door sports, the boys betook themselves again to their books. In Mr. Meredith's study at the Rectory the three boys sat busily engaged in making Latin verse, an exercise which suited Dick far better than it did the others. Their brown faces and their hands, hacked and roughened as only boys' hands can become, were in great contrast to their studious occupations. Mr. Meredith looked at them with keen interest, and resolved that he would do all in his power to turn out of his workshop (as he called it) three good specimens of God's handiwork and his own, and as far as in him lay he kept his vow.

Saturday was a whole holiday, and as the boys met at the boat-house to be ready for anything which might turn up, Bell came to them and said, that while cutting the hay in a small meadow which he rented, he had come upon a landrail or corncrake, sitting on her eggs, and so close did she sit that he had cut off her head with his scythe. The boys went to see the nest and found eleven eggs in it, like those of the water-rail but larger. They were hard sat, which accounted for the old bird remaining on her nest until the last; but the boys knew how to blow hard-sat eggs, and took possession of them.

Passing by Mrs. Brett's cottage they saw the old lady beckoning to them. When they went to her she explained that she wanted them to aid her swallows. A pair of house-martins were flying about their nest in the eaves, uttering cries of distress.

"What is the matter? Have the sparrows taken possession of it?" said Frank.

"No, dear, but it seems breaking away from the wall. There are young ones in it, and I suppose the old birds did not make it strong enough to hold their weight. I am afraid it will fall down every minute."

The boys undertook to put matters right, and with the aid of a ladder they climbed up to the nest, and with a hammer and nails they nailed up the nest in a broad piece of flannel. While they were engaged in doing this, the martins ceased their cries, as if they knew that a friendly act was being done for them; and when the boys left the nest the birds returned to it, and by their busy twitterings and short excited flights seemed to wish to express their gratitude.

Leaving the cottage, they went for a long aimless ramble through the fields and woods, trespassing with impunity, for they were well known everywhere, and visiting every hedgerow and copse on the look-out for nests.

They came to a field round which there were hedges unusually high and thick for Norfolk, which is a county of trim hedges and clean farming. Almost the first nest they came to was that of a siskin. The old birds to which it belonged were hopping about the hedge. They were pretty lemon-coloured birds with a black patch on their heads and black on their wings. The boys watched them for some time, in order to make sure that they were indeed the siskin, for they are so very rare, especially during the breeding season, that very few nests have been found.

"Well, there can be no doubt about that," said Frank. "They are siskins sure enough. What a very lucky find! Now let us have a look at the nest."

Both nest and eggs were like those of a goldfinch, but the latter were much smaller than a goldfinch's eggs. The eggs were hard sat, but they took three of them and blew them safely; and as they were still doubting the reality of their good luck, when they went home they consulted their books, and Mr. Meredith, and all came to the conclusion that there could be no mistake about the birds.

They found many more nests in that hedge. Most of them had young ones, for the season was now very far advanced.

Dick soon found something after his own heart, and this was a large bed of nettles. Every stem was covered with large, black, hairy caterpillars. These were the caterpillars of the peacock butterfly,—that splendid insect, which with its crimson and black, and the gorgeous peacock eyes which adorn its wings, is so conspicuous an object in the country in the summer. It is a great pleasure to me to see it as it sits on its favourite perch, the top of a nettle or a bramble, and opens and shuts its wings with the fanning motion peculiar to its tribe. Dick marked this spot, and in a short time he came to gather the gilded chrysalides which on every plant shone brightly in the sunshine. These he gathered and put in a safe place, and during the summer it was a great pleasure to him to watch the outcoming of these resplendent insects. Just before they were ready to emerge, the colours of their wings could be seen through the thin case which covered them, and with this warning he was often able to catch the insect at the instant of their appearance. Not long afterwards he found a colony of the caterpillars of the red admiral butterfly, a large black insect with crimson bands round its wings, and the under surface marbled with the most delicate tracery of brown and grey. As far as size and beauty go, these two butterflies may be said to be the gems of the entomologist's cabinet. They are common enough in the south, and the young entomologist may look forward to catching or breeding them his first year.

The afternoon was exceedingly hot, and the sun blazed from a cloudless sky, and birds'-nesting and butterfly-hunting was tiring work. The scent of the hay made the air fragrant, and the sharp whisk of the scythes of the mowers in those meadows which were not yet cut, was the only sound which disturbed the evening stillness.

Crossing one of the commons which are to be met with everywhere in the enclosed districts of Norfolk, they saw a little brown bird fly out of a hole in a low hedge bank. Very cleverly hidden there, in a hole covered with a clump of primrose flowers, was a winchat's nest. It contained five blue eggs spotted with rusty red at the large end. Taking two of these they went on their way, and presently entered a thick and tangled wood, where the underwood was so close that they could with difficulty make their way through it. The brambles and briars were breast high, and the ground was ankle deep in half rotten leaves of the previous year. In a bush through which Jimmy was trying to force his way he saw a nest, which he took to be a thrush's or blackbird's. He put in his hand just to see if there were any eggs in, and to his surprise he felt something cold and slimy. Before he could withdraw his hand he felt a sharp blow and a prick on his finger, and he drew back with a cry of dismay as he saw a viper uncoiling itself from the nest and wriggle down to the ground, where it was soon lost in the thick vegetation. Frank and Dick hurried up to him, and he held out his finger, in which were two small blue punctures.

"An adder has bitten me," he said, with blanched cheeks.

Frank at once whipped out his penknife, and seizing Jimmy's hand, he made a deep cross cut over the bites, and as the blood began to flow, he put the finger to his mouth and tried to suck the poison out with all the force of his strong young lungs, only just waiting to say to Dick—

"Go at once to the village and get a bottle of olive-oil at the chemist's, and come back to the cottage at the edge of the wood. Be as quick as you can."

Dick burst out of the wood and set off for the village, which was a mile away as the crow flies. As straight as an arrow and as fleet as a deer, Dick sped on his friendly errand, and in six minutes he had reached the chemist's. The chemist gave him what he asked for, saying, that if rubbed in before the fire it was the best remedy.

"Are snake-bites fatal?" said Dick.

"No, sir, not in England, unless the person bitten is very delicate; but they are very painful, and I should advise you to be quick back."

Viper.