Page 34 - Fairbrass

tell him, so, on a bright day in the early
summer, when he was alone in the garden,'

he caught the ear of a swiftly-flying House
Martin, and said to him :

* What is business ? ’
‘T his/ cried the House Martin, as he

deftly plastered the piece of adhesive mud
that he carried in his beak in exactly the

right spot on the little semi-circular nest he

was building under the eaves of the house.
' This is business-—or at all events it is my

business—and I have no time just now to
bother about anybody elseTs.!

‘And this is my business,’ said a glossy
Blackbird, who from the lawn had over­

heard the question, and who spoke between
the fierce tugs that with his strong yellow

bill he was making at a fine fat worm who
was reluctantly bidding good-bye to the

brown juicy soil where he lived in peace.

‘And this is mine,3 said a handsome red-
backed Shrike, as he mercilessly impaled a

struggling beetle on a strong thorn in the
orchard hedgerow.