The Swan And Her Crew Part 17

Frank thanked him, and asked if there were any more nightingales about.

"There are so many about that many times I cannot go to sleep for the noise they make."

"Noise!" said his sister reproachfully.

"Yes, when it is dinned into one's ears so much, any singing becomes noisy."

Frank thought his friend was joking, but about ten o'clock they were strolling about the grounds in the bright moonlight, and then they heard nightingales singing all round them. The boys thought they had never heard such sweet sounds. First the song would commence with an intensely sweet, low, single note or pipe. Then would follow a strong clear flood of melody which was entrancing in its richness. Then the bird would cease, and in a few seconds another bird would answer from a little distance. Then the first one would reply, and a third would take up the strain from a different quarter. The moonlight silence of the night, the ravis.h.i.+ng strains of bird music which made the grove vocal, and the heavy fragrance of the flowers which floated on the dewy air, made the evening most perfect and beautiful.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A queer Umbrella.--Visit to Scoulton Gullery.--Driving Tandem.-- Running away.--Black-headed Gulls.--Collecting the Eggs.--Carp.-- Wood Argus b.u.t.terfly.--Scarlet Pimpernel.--Gra.s.shopper Warbler.-- Chiff-Chaff.--Gall-Fly.--Robins' Pincus.h.i.+ons.

The boys slept at the Royal Hotel that night, and to their surprise found Sir Richard's groom there. He had brought the brougham to town for repairs, and had orders to wait until it was finished, which would not be until the next day but one. In the meantime his two ponies were in the stables with nothing to do. Here was a good opportunity for a long drive. Frank at once suggested that they should drive to Scoulton and see the breeding-place of the black-headed gulls. This was agreed to without hesitation. Then Frank said that as he had a pair of horses they might as well drive tandem, and he undertook to drive. Mason, the groom, objected to this, because he was afraid that Master Frank could not drive well enough; but Frank was positive that he could, although he had never driven tandem before. He said he knew the theory, and he was certain the practice was easy. At last it was agreed that the horses should be harnessed tandem, and that if Frank could not manage them he was to give the reins up to Mason.

"Why do the black-headed gulls breed at Hingham, which is an inland place? I always thought they bred by the sea," said d.i.c.k.

"The black-headed gulls don't. Every year as the breeding season approaches, they leave the sea and go to certain lakes or rivers, where from 'time immemorial' they have bred. Scoulton Mere near Hingham is one of these places, and they breed there in countless numbers, going there in March and leaving in July or August. It is a sight worth seeing, I can a.s.sure you. There are not many places in England now where they breed in such numbers as they do at Scoulton," answered Frank.

"What a curious instinct it is which leads them there. And how funny that for half a year they should live on salt food by the sea, and then for the other half on fresh-water food," said d.i.c.k.

Frank and Jimmy were standing in the archway of the Royal Hotel the next morning wondering where d.i.c.k was. It was raining heavily, and they had had to put off starting to Hingham. Presently d.i.c.k was seen running up the Walk with his coat collar turned up, evidently pretty well drenched.

Under his arm however he had a very nice-looking umbrella.

"Oh, d.i.c.k," said Frank as he joined them, "whatever have you been buying an umbrella for, and why, having bought one, do you not put it up when it rains?"

"I believe every person I pa.s.sed all the way from the top of St. Giles's Street would have liked to ask me that question. They plainly thought that I was a fool," d.i.c.k answered rather crossly.

"Well, no wonder. Why didn't you put it up?"

"It is not an umbrella at all, but a b.u.t.terfly-net;" and he unfolded the supposed umbrella and opened it out into a good-sized b.u.t.terfly-net.

"I did not much like to be seen carrying a great b.u.t.terfly-net through the town, so I thought this a good dodge to save appearances, and lo and behold it serves me this trick the first time I carry it."

"Well, it could not help the rain, d.i.c.k," said Frank laughing.

These umbrella-nets are capital things, although they are useless in a shower. The reader may easily make one for himself in this way: Get an old umbrella-stick and place the catch which holds the umbrella open, lower down, so as to increase the diameter of your net; then get two slips of strong crinoline steel, make the ends red hot, and bend them with a pliers into little loops. Then fasten one end of each to the top of the stick with a piece of wire, and the other ends to the sliding ferrule. When this ferrule is pushed up to the catch the steels form a circle, to which the net can be attached. Slip the ferrule back, and the net can be rolled up round the stick just like an ordinary umbrella, and a case put over it. A very handy and useful net is thus formed, and one which is very portable. If you do not care to make it, it may be bought from a dealer for a small sum, but I should advise every boy to make himself all the things he can. He will thus not only save his money to buy those things which he cannot make, but he will (which is far more important) learn how to turn his hand to useful purposes, and encourage habits of self-reliance which will be very useful to him in after life.

In addition to this, one gets far more pleasure from using a thing one has made oneself, than one which has been bought.

About twelve o'clock the rain cleared away and they decided to start. So the horses were harnessed in a dog-cart belonging to the inn, which also supplied them with the tandem harness, and the turn-out, which looked very creditable, was brought to the front of the inn, and the boys took their seats. Frank and d.i.c.k sat in front, and Jimmy and the groom behind. Frank felt nervous as he took hold of the reins, but pretended to feel quite at his ease. To his astonishment their steeds started off very quietly; and as the streets were very clear of traffic, they got out of the town without any accident. As soon, however, as they got into the open roads the leader evinced a strong desire to look about him, and presently his movements grew so erratic that d.i.c.k said he was sure he would turn round and look at them before long. Frank resented this imputation on his skill in driving by giving the leader a cut with the whip, whereupon he attempted to bolt, and it was as much as Frank could do to hold him in. Then sometimes he would hang back, so that the traces were loose, and the wheeler did all the pulling; and then he would start forward and nearly break the traces. After this sort of thing had gone on for some two or three miles, the wheeler, which had been going very steadily, began to imitate the bad example of his leader; and Frank and his companions began to wish they had let tandem-driving alone.

They came to a turnpike gate and, on Frank attempting to pull in the horses in order to pay the toll, he found that they were beyond his control, and after cannoning rather severely against the gate-post, they fairly bolted, and tore away at a great pace along the road, which was fortunately pretty straight and free from vehicles.

"Sit still," said Frank, "don't jump out, or you will come to grief. As long as there is nothing in the way they shall go as fast as they like.

They will get tired of it sooner than I shall."

Away they went like the wind, the dog-cart bounding over the ruts and small stones in the roadway so that the boys had to hold on as tightly as they could. A large waggon now appeared in sight, and they rapidly came up with it. Frank tried to turn his horses a little, but they had the bits in their teeth and would not swerve out of their course. The waggoner, seeing the state of affairs, promptly drew his horses and waggon close up to the side of the road in time for the runaways to pa.s.s them safely, but the wheels were within an inch of coming into collision. On they went until they came to a rise in the road, and here the horses, seeing that a long hill stretched before them, began to draw in.

"Now," said Frank, "you have come at this pace so far for your own satisfaction, you shall go to the top of the hill at the same pace for mine." And he lashed them up and made them gallop right to the top of the hill, which was half a mile long, and then they were glad enough to be pulled up.

"You will have no more trouble with them now, sir," said Mason, and he was right. The horses went as steadily as possible the rest of the way, and Frank's opinion of himself as a driver, which had been going down, again rose. Their way led through a fine and well-wooded country; and after the rain, the trees, the long stretches of corn-fields, and the meadows, shone out with their brightest emerald; and in the shady parts, where the sun had not dried up the rain-drops, it seemed as if a sheeny silk mantle had been cast over the fields. About two o'clock they reached Scoulton Mere, which lay by the road side, separated from it by a belt of trees. A keeper was entering the gate into the wood as they drove up, and Frank at once called out to him, and asked if they might go and see the gulls' nests.

"Oh yes, sir, I am going to collect the eggs now, and you can come with me. Bring your horses in here. There is a shed where we can put them up."

"Hurrah, we are in luck!" said Frank to his companions.

They drove into the woodland glade over the softest moss and between great ma.s.ses of rhododendrons which were still in flower.

Leaving the horses in charge of Mason, they accompanied the keeper to the pool. It was about eighty acres in extent with a large island in the centre. As they reached the banks the air became filled with a thundering noise of wings, and as white as a snowstorm with the numbers of gulls which rose in the air at their approach.

"Oh, there are thousands and thousands of them!" said d.i.c.k in amazement.

"And if you look, there are as many on the water as in the air,"

answered the keeper.

Floating with the peculiar lightness which distinguishes the gull tribe, the birds seemed to occupy almost every yard of water.

"You spoke of collecting the eggs," said d.i.c.k to the keeper; "what do you do with them?"

"Oh, we sell them for eating. They are as good as plovers' eggs. I can get one s.h.i.+lling and sixpence or two s.h.i.+llings a score here for them, and the men who buy them of me get a good profit in Norwich market."

"How many eggs do you get?"

"Oh, that depends upon whether it is a good year or a bad one. In a good year we take 12,000 eggs or more. This year we have had one take already of 2,500 in one day, and I expect to get about 1,500 to-day. You see my men are collecting already. We only take the first laying of each bird if we can help it, but nests are so close together that it is hard to remember which we have taken and which we have not. If you would like to come on the Hearth, as we call the island in the middle, you can do so, but you must put these mud boards on your feet, for it is very soft and dangerous walking."

[Ill.u.s.tration: COMMON GULL.]

They crossed to the island in a heavy tub of a boat, and were surprised to see the number of eggs and nests. The nests were not more than one yard apart, built on the ground like water-hens', but not so cup-shaped.

The number of eggs seemed to be about three in each nest, and their colour was generally olive brown, blotched and spotted with darker brown, but there was a very great variety in their colour. Some were very light, some were very dark, and others were all blue like a heron's egg. The business of collecting the eggs went on very quietly and expeditiously, but the boys were almost made dizzy with the constant swooping of the gulls about their heads, and almost deafened by their cries. One part of the marshy island was so soft that no one could walk upon it, and the gulls which bred there never had their nests disturbed except by the rats and weasels, which naturally abound in such places.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YOUNG GULLS COVERED WITH DOWN.]

The black-headed gull derives its name from the black patch on its head, which, however only appears during the breeding season.

"When do the gulls arrive?" the boys asked.

"Well, sir, a lot of them come in March and stay for a day or two, as if to see that everything is right; and then they go away, and in a few days afterwards the whole of them come and begin to lay directly. There was some very stormy weather in March this year and they were late in coming, or most of the eggs would have been hatched by now."

"And when do they leave?"

"In July and August they begin to go away, and leave in the night; and by the end of August very few are left."

"One would think that this small lake would scarcely afford sufficient food for them," said Jimmy.

"Oh they scour the country around, sir. They follow the plough and spread over the fields like rooks. They catch moths and other insects.