"I think I have," said the Blackbird, with a certain amount of proper pride; "but you shall judge for yourself," he added, as he presented his young wife to the Rook. The Rook made a quaint sort of movement with his head, which, probably among birds, passed for a very grave and polite bow, and after looking at her for a few moments, he nodded his approval. "We are all rather sad to-day," said the Rook, after a few moments of silence; "we have just lost a very dear friend--indeed a cousin of mine." The Blackbird looked grave and sympathetic, and the Rook continued, "He started off yesterday evening to get some supper, and found his way to some grass-land which was being destroyed by these mischievous little grubs; he was busy pecking away at them, when all of a sudden we, who were in a tree hard by, heard a fearful noise, and saw a great deal of smoke. In another moment, as the smoke cleared away, we saw my poor cousin lying on the ground. He was quite dead; a young farmer had shot him with a terrible gun, thinking he was doing mischief; the stupid fellow little knew what good service my cousin was engaged upon in eating those grubs. This affair has made us all very sad indeed," said the Rook, with a little extra huskiness in his voice: "poor fellow, he had just begun building his first nest, and his young widow is completely broken hearted." The Blackbird was very grieved for his friend's trouble, and he felt rather uncomfortable besides, for it occurred to him that the same wretched man might very likely shoot him some evening, and then what would become of _his_ little wife? He therefore prepared to fly off, but before doing so he said, "I hope we sha'n't be shot also, for these grubs are easier food to get at than the snails. I got hold of some snails this very morning, and my bill still aches with the trouble they gave me. I dropped them on the stones to break them, but one, and he was a fat fellow too, was so obstinate he would neither come out of his shell, nor could I crack it. So after ten minutes hard work I was obliged to leave the rascal. They are stubborn creatures, these snails," said the Blackbird, with a groan that expressed his deep sense of injury. "_That_ they are," replied the Rook, "and they ought to be taught better." A few days more went by and then the nest in the evergreen bush was completed. The inside walls, which were of mud, had been perhaps the most difficult part of the building, for although the Blackbirds would very often start off with a nice piece of soft mud in their beaks, it would get dry, in a very tiresome manner, before they could reach the nest, and it then crumbled to pieces as they tried to plaster it on the twigs. The birds persevered, however, and the mud walls were at last substantially built, and to crown the whole, a lining of soft grass was added.