The Swan and Her Crew
Page 41
CHAPTER XXXIX.
The Boys' Note-Book.
A Note-book was incidentally mentioned in the last chapter. Properlyspeaking, it should have been mentioned long before.
On the table in the boat-house lay a large folio manuscript book, inwhich the boys noted down whatever, in their reading or observation,struck them as noticeable or worth remembering, or of which they wishedto be reminded at some future time, when they should have leisure tolook up what they wished to know concerning the matter noted. Beforetherefore I close this "strange eventful history," I shall quote a fewpages at random out of their Note-book, just to show how it was keptup.
In the left-hand margin of each sheet the date of the entry was writtenopposite each note, and each jotting was signed by the one making it. Sothat the book ran after this fashion:--
"They have a novel mode of netting shore birds at Lynn. They have longnets stretched on poles about six feet high, on the sands towards dusk,one line below high water mark and the other upon the ridge."--F. M.
"All grain-eating birds feed their young on insects--as a matter ofcourse because there is no grain in the spring--so they make up for thedamage they may do to the grain. I shall write a letter to this effectto the Secretary of the Sparrow Club here. The fellows in that club areas proud of their sparrow heads as a red Indian of his scalps."--F. M.
MOLE CRICKET.]
"Crickets are the thirstiest of all thirsty creatures."
"Mem. How do flies walk with their heads downwards, and how do theybuzz?"--R. C.
"Caught a lizard in the garden to-day, and when I touched it, its taildropped off. Curious habit some reptiles have of parting with theirtails. It is done to divert attention from the body, which makes itsescape."--J. B.
"Our keeper set some trimmers on our little lake in the park lastnight, and this morning he found on one of them a great crested grebewhich had swallowed the bait, and on the other an eel of four poundsweight with a kitten in its inside."--R. C.
"Frank's head has a permanent set to one side, from always looking intothe hedges for nests. I noticed it in church."--J. B.
"You'll get a licking, young 'un."--Frank.
COMMON LIZARD.]
"Bell says that he has seen an osprey resting on one of the posts inHickling Broad, and it was so gorged after a meal of fish that he rowedquite close to it."--F. M.
"I saw a squirrel eating some toad-stools which grew at the foot of atree near Sir Richard's house. I thought they fed only on nuts."--J.Brett.
"They say that hedgehogs will go into an orchard and roll themselves onthe fallen fruit, so that it sticks to their spines, and then they walkoff with it. Should like to see them do it, and I wonder how they get itoff again."--J. B.
OSPREY.]
CRESTED GREBE.]
"Saw a robin kill a sparrow in fair fight this morning, and itafterwards _ate_ a portion of him! Also saw two rooks fighting likeanything, and a third perched on a branch just above them, as if to seefair play."--F. M.
1. Nest of White Ant. 2. Suspended Wasp's Nest. 3. CommonWasp. 4. Demoiselle Dragon-fly. 5, 6. Soldiers of White Ant. 7. Hornet.8. Worker of White Ant. 9. Wood Ant. 10. Red Ant.]
"What a curious instinct it is which leads moths and butterflies, whileyou are killing them, to lay their eggs. It is their last will andtestament!"
HEDGEHOG.]
HONEY-BUZZARD.]
"I found a brood of caterpillars on a hawthorn-bush; they were thecaterpillars of the small oak-eggar. They make a silken nest in thebranches, and they come out to feed and go in to sleep. There were atthe least five hundred of them. The moth, I see, is a small, dingy brownthing, with white spots on the wings."--R. C.
"Bell's son took a hornet's nest the other day. He was stung by one ofthem, and was ill for some days, the inflammation was so bad. Bell saysthat hornets are much rarer now than they used to be, and a good thingtoo.
"While going to take a wasp's nest to-day, we disturbed a largehawk-like bird, which had been digging it up and apparently eating thegrubs. The wasps were flying all about it and settling on it, but it didnot seem to mind them. Upon looking at our books we have decided thatthe bird was the honey-buzzard, one of the short-winged hawks."--F. M.