1. (c) Pot-holes are round holes at the sides of a waterfall. They are caused by the water coming down and bringing little stones with it, and beating them against the rock on each side of the waterfall, so that it gradually pounds away the side of the rock till it makes it into a round hole. If you look in these holes you will generally find one or two round stones, which have been used by the water for pounding the rock. When the water has broken these stones to tiny little bits, it brings others down, which it uses in the same way, and so it continues to make the pot-hole.[54a]
I have noticed a waterfall in Ireland gradually cutting itself deeper and deeper into the earth, and carrying down the rocks from up above.[55]
3. (a) A rook is a fairly large black bird. It does a great deal of good to the farmers by eating the grubs which are in their fields, though it eats a little corn, but it does much more good than evil. Once several farmers decided to shoot all the rooks round about, expecting to get a very good crop, but instead of this they had only a very little corn, so that they had to induce more rooks to come and settle there again. Rooks generally fly in flocks. They make their nests high up in tall trees, and use the same nests each year, repairing them every now and then in the winter to keep them all right for the next nesting time.[55a]
3. (b) A starling is also a black bird, but it has bright colours on the tips of its wings so that it does not look nearly as black as a rook. It is the smallest of its family, the crow is the largest. It feeds generally upon grubs, though it will eat bread and corn when it cannot get other food. Its eggs are pale blue, and there are from four to five of them in the nest, which is generally built half-way up a tree or in old buildings and barns.[55a]
3. (c) A jackdaw is another black bird, though it has a little grey on the head and a little on the body. It belongs to the crow family and builds its nest very high up, and so is very hard to find. The nest is made of straw and bits of dry grass and other little bits of old stuff. Its eggs are the same colour as the starling.[55a]
3. (d) The colours of a thrush are, on the back a browny grey, the throat and breast are a whity grey with spots of brown, the tail also brown with a little white and spots underneath, and the wings are brown like the back. Its nest is made of dry grass, etc., and other bits of old stuff, and the inside is lined with mud. Its eggs are generally about four, occasionally five. They are a beautiful blue colour with spots of brownish black. It sings very beautifully. Once a little thrush was known to die from having sung too violently, and by that breaking one of its bloodvessels.[56]
I have noticed that the thrush sings very loudly, and that the sort of song he sings is—‘Pretty Mary’ or ‘Pretty Joey.’ When we put out crumbs for the birds in the morning, the thrush does not come so much as the other birds, such as sparrows and black-birds, etc.[56a]
Scripture
I. 1. There had been a law made by the king of Egypt that all the Hebrew children should be put to death so Moses’ mother took her little babe Moses to the river’s side in a cradle which she had made and pushed it out until it went into the reeds on the other side. When Pharoah’s (sic) daughter came down to bathe in the river, she heard the baby crying, and told some of her maids to fetch the cradle and see what was in it. When she found it was a little baby she thought she would keep it, as she had none herself. Before this Moses’ mother had put her daughter to watch what would happen to the baby, and when she saw the Princess take it, she came and asked if she should get a nurse for it. The Princess said to the mother “Take this child and nurse it for me.” So Moses was taken into the palace and nursed there and was treated as a prince.
All royal children were very well educated so Moses was taken to school and had to study very hard. When he had learned reading and writing, he went to college at On, where there was a University and here he studied all the arts and laws of the Egyptians. We know he was a great warrior because we told him coming back in triumph after defeating some of the enemies of Pharoah (sic).