Shanghai, Mar. 241 confess that there were some very' bad children in our family: 1 am naming no names in the pious hope of avoiding anything in the nature" of pack drill:. but think T'must admit that if there was any tls-chief going on within three miles of our house, there would be one of us in it, Among other things, we had quite a knowledge of bird-lore in a childish way, and I can remember a com= petition among us as to which one could first hear a Wren sing in every month of the year (or the greatest number of months, as the case may have been) which led to a great deal of bhard-swearing in the form of family aMdavits so when it came to the arrival of the birds and the frst hearing of their songs, we really knew something about them. And, of course, the Cuckoo was amongst the most important: 50 took turns to G0 out into the woods and blow a pot-whistle, while the rest of the young fends sat on benches with Innocent folie and split their ribs with suppressed laughter to hei them say "how early the Cuckoo is this year." We also had a whistle, operated in a glass of water, which gave a very creditable imitation for a Nightingale, and T do not know how many letters have been written to "The Tim result of... shall 1 say one of us?:...operating this ingenious device. And now must state that all this Easter confiteor is due to something T found out this morning: st appears that eof the Jessfield Park watchmen has discovered how to imitate the Indian Cucko the now slips in behind trees, gives the call, and comes out (0 hear what all the poor boobs have to soy. I merely mention this, being now old therefore on the side. of law and order, to warn anyone who may hear the call of the one-more-bottle" bird at any. time before May 1 that he can bet his last FRB. Dollar that the bird wears a uniform and draws a modest salary from the S.M.C.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.