"There were two birds sitting on a stone."
Then by a sudden upward movement, throwing the paper on one finger, as it were, over the shoulder, the next finger—the second—is substituted for it, and the hand is again brought down and placed beside the remaining paper bird—
"Fa, la, la, la, lal, de."
"One flew away, and then there was one."
The same sleight-of-hand is gone through with the other finger—
"The other flew away, and then there was none,
And so the poor stone was left all alone."
Another but more modern game, embodying the same idea, is told in—
"There were two blackbirds sitting on a hill,
One named Jack and the other named Jyll.
Fly away, Jack, fly away, Jyll.
Come again, Jack, come again, Jyll"—
to the wonderment of the child watching the quick change of fingers.
It is the earliest sleight-of-hand trick taught to the nursery child.