The Blackbird groaned sympathetically, for he remembered his own labours in that line. After a last glance at the kingfisher, the cuckoo, and the winding stream, the two friends flew farther on, over "flowery meads" and shining woods. The hedges were purple with marshmallow and vetch, while in other places the blue heads of the succory, and the pink and white briar roses were luxuriant, not to speak of the pale bindweed which clung so affectionately round the slender stems of the hazels. The pair of friends alighted for a moment to gaze at all this summer wealth. "I _do_ wish it could always be summer," sighed the Blackbird. "You'd soon get very tired of it if it were," retorted the Rook, "and you would not value the sunshine and flowers half so much if you always had them." [Illustration: THE ROOK.] "Perhaps not," said the Blackbird, gazing rather sentimentally at the closing blossoms of the convolvulus, "perhaps not, but the flowers are very lovely." "Yes," said the Rook, gravely; "they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet we are assured that even the great King Solomon in all his glory 'was not arrayed like one of these.' The great God is over all His works, friend Blackbird; nothing, however small or however insignificant it may be, is overlooked or forgotten by the Creator." After a few moments of silence the Blackbird said, "I must be going home; my young ones are not yet able to do without me." "Your young ones!" exclaimed the Rook, in a tone of surprise; and then he added, "Ah, you've had two broods, I suppose?" "Yes," replied the Blackbird, "and the last are still young. My first are now quite grown up." "I once knew a relation of yours," said the Rook, "who hatched three broods in one year." "Dear me," said the Blackbird in a tone of commiseration, "how exhausted he must have been by the time he had finished with his third family." "I have been told, and on the best possible authority too," said the Rook, rather mischievously, "of a pair of Blackbirds who had four families--" "Oh, pray don't," said the Blackbird, as he opened out his wings as if for flight; "you make me feel quite nervous."