The Swan and Her Crew

by Burt L. Standish

  CHAPTER XX.

  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 mostbeautiful bird about the orchard and the wood next to it. It is about asbig 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; butit is so very rare that very few specimens have been seen in thiscountry, and that is the golden oriole. Come and show me where it was atonce, before I go to Mr. Meredith's."

  ORIOLE.]

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

  "I am awfully sorry this has happened, Mary. The idea of shooting a rarebird 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 onesabout. 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, whichwas like a missel thrush's, and placed in the fork of an oak branch. Itcontained four eggs, white in colour, covered with claret-colouredspots. Frank did not touch it, hoping that the remaining bird would sitand 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 totheir collection.

  NEST OF AMERICAN SPECIES OF ORIOLE.]

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

  Saturday was a whole holiday, and as the boys met at the boat-house tobe 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 hadcome upon a landrail or corncrake, sitting on her eggs, and so close didshe sit that he had cut off her head with his scythe. The boys went tosee the nest and found eleven eggs in it, like those of the water-railbut larger. They were hard sat, which accounted for the old birdremaining on her nest until the last; but the boys knew how to blowhard-sat eggs, and took possession of them.

  LANDRAIL OR CORNCRAKE.]

  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 herswallows. A pair of house-martins were flying about their nest in theeaves, uttering cries of distress.

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

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

  HOUSE-MARTIN.]

  The boys undertook to put matters right, and with the aid of a ladderthey climbed up to the nest, and with a hammer and nails they nailed upthe nest in a broad piece of flannel. While they were engaged in doingthis, the martins ceased their cries, as if they knew that a friendlyact was being done for them; and when the boys left the nest the birdsreturned to it, and by their busy twitterings and short excited flightsseemed to wish to express their gratitude.

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

  SISKIN.]

  They came to a field round which there were hedges unusually high andthick 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 birdsto which it belonged were hopping about the hedge. They were prettylemon-coloured birds with a black patch on their heads and black ontheir wings. The boys watched them for some time, in order to make surethat they were indeed the siskin, for they are so very rare, especiallyduring the breeding season, that very few nests have been found.

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

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

  CHRYSALIS. PEACOCK BUTTERFLY. CATERPILLAR.]

  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 bedof nettles. Every stem was covered with large, black, hairycaterpillars. These were the caterpillars of the peacockbutterfly,--that splendid insect, which with its crimson and black, andthe gorgeous peacock eyes which adorn its wings, is so conspicuous anobject in the country in the summer. It is a great pleasure to me to seeit 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 itstribe. Dick marked this spot, and in a short time he came to gather thegilded chrysalides which on every plant shone brightly in the sunshine.These he gathered and put in a safe place, and during the summer it wasa great pleasure to him to watch the outcoming of these resplendentinsects. Just before they were ready to emerge, the colours of theirwings could be seen through the thin case which covered them, and withthis warning he was often able to catch the insect at the instant oftheir appearance. Not long afterwards he found a colony of thecaterpillars of the red admiral butterfly, a large black insect withcrimson bands round its wings, and the under surface marbled with themost 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'scabinet. They are common enough in the south, and the young entomologistmay look forward to catching or breeding them his first year.

  RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY.]

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

  Crossing one of the commons which are to be met with everywhere in theenclosed districts of Norfolk, they saw a little brown bird fly out of ahole in a low hedge bank. Very cleverly hidden there, in a hole coveredwith a clump of primrose flowers, was a winchat's nest. It containedfive blue eggs spotted with rusty red at the large end. Taking two ofthese they went on their way, and presently entered a thick and tangledwood, where the underwood was so close that they could with difficultymake their way through it. The brambles and briars were breast high, andthe 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 justto see if there were any eggs in, and to his surprise he felt somethingcold and slimy. Before he could withdraw his hand he felt a sharp blowand a prick on his finger, and he drew back with a cry of dismay as hesaw a viper uncoiling itself from the nest an
d wriggle down to theground, where it was soon lost in the thick vegetation. Frank and Dickhurried up to him, and he held out his finger, in which were two smallblue punctures.

  WINCHAT AND EGG.]

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

  Frank at once whipped out his penknife, and seizing Jimmy's hand, hemade a deep cross cut over the bites, and as the blood began to flow, heput the finger to his mouth and tried to suck the poison out with allthe 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 thechemist's, and come back to the cottage at the edge of the wood. Be asquick as you can."

  Dick burst out of the wood and set off for the village, which was a mileaway 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 thechemist's. The chemist gave him what he asked for, saying, that ifrubbed 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; butthey are very painful, and I should advise you to be quick back."

  VIPER.]

  Dick was off again at the top of his speed, and reached the cottage aquarter of an hour after he had left Frank and Jimmy.

  "Well done, Dick!" said Frank; "but go outside and face the wind a bit.You are dead beat."

  Jimmy was pale, but collected. His arm had swelled up to a great sizealready, and was very painful. Frank held his hand as near the fire ashe could bear it, and rubbed the olive-oil in for half an hour; and thenDick and Frank walked him home between them. Mrs. Brett was naturallymuch alarmed, but Frank soothed her fears, and Jimmy was put to bed.

  "Thank you, Frank," he said, "I am awfully much obliged to you."

  "Then prove it by going quietly to sleep if you can. You will be allright in a day or two."

  "How did you know about the olive-oil being a cure, Frank?"

  "I was reading about it not a week ago, and as we were walking alongthis afternoon I was, strange to say, thinking about it, and imaginingthat I was bitten and curing myself, like one does make up pictures andrehearse scenes to oneself, when one has nothing better to do. It was avery strange coincidence."[1]

  [1] The best remedy for viper-bite is the injection of ammonia into the veins.

  COMMON RINGED SNAKE.]

  Frank went home with Dick, and they took a short cut through the copse.Dick was looking about him very suspiciously, seeing the coils of anadder in every twisted root. Suddenly his eye caught sight of a snakelying across the path.

  "There is another viper!" he exclaimed.

  "No, it is only a snake," said Frank, coolly stooping down and takingthe snake in his hand, while it coiled about his arm. Dick lookedhorrified.

  "Won't it bite?" he said.

  "No, Dick. Don't you know the difference between a snake and a viper?Then I'll tell you. The viper is ash-brown in colour. Its neck isnarrower and its head broader in proportion. The viper has a couple offangs, or long hollow teeth, which lie flat along the back of its mouth,but when it is angry it opens its mouth, erects its teeth and strikeswith them. They are hollow, and down through the tubes the poison comesfrom a bag at their roots. The snake has no such teeth, and it isharmless, for it cannot sting, as many country people think it can, withits long forked tongue which it is now shooting out. Then the snake layseggs. I dare say if we were to dig in the manure-heaps in the farm-yard,we should find a lot of white eggs covered with a tough, soft skin andjoined together with a sort of glue. The viper's eggs are hatched insideit, and the young ones are born alive."

  "I have read that the young ones of the viper will run down theirparent's throat when alarmed for safety. Is that true?"

  "It seems so strange that I can scarcely think it to be true, but somany respectable people say they have seen it that one does not like tosay that it is not so; and it is, of course, difficult to prove anegative. I suppose the question will be settled some day."

  The snake Frank held in his hand was a large and handsome one. It wasolive-grey in colour, with rows of black spots on its back and sides,and greenish-yellow beneath, tinged with black. The snake changes itsskin just like a caterpillar, but the skin preserves the shape of thesnake, and is a very pretty object. Often have I seen a sunny corner ina quiet wood covered with many of these cast-off skins all glittering inthe sunlight; and they are so very like real snakes as easily to deceivethe casual observer.

  During the winter both vipers and snakes hybernate in holes, or undertree-roots, and require no food.

  The slow-worm or blind-worm is often mistaken for the snake. It is abouttwelve inches long, with a smooth skin, and is dull brown in colour. Itpossesses a curious faculty of parting with its tail when it chooses.If it is seized by the hand or otherwise annoyed, the tail separatesfrom the body and commences a series of war-dances on its own account.While you are occupied in observing this, the body quietly andexpeditiously moves away out of danger. Snakes and vipers live on frogs,small birds, &c., when they can catch them. The slow-worm lives almostentirely upon the white garden-slug.

  SLOW-WORM.]

  Jimmy's arm and side were very much swollen and inflamed, and it wasquite a week before he was free from pain. The doctor said that if theolive-oil had not been used he would have suffered very much more fromthe bite, and the consequences might have been serious, for Jimmy hadnot a strong constitution. He was very careful after that of putting hishand into a bird's nest without getting a look into it first.