birds'-nesting

Sometimes he went a birds'-nesting, like a boy; and in these expeditions Mrs. Nelson always, by his expressed desire, accompanied him.

The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson Southey, Robert, 1774-1843 1993

Not that, for such as he, birds'-nesting was a child's game; still,, each spring, he made his way down these very cliffs to collect the freshly laid eggs for food.

The Wicked Day Stewart, Mary, 1916- 1983

Do you remember the birds'-nesting -- and the apple-tree in the orchard?

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 337, November, 1843 Various

Between journeys we took long walks, went birds'-nesting and chatted with the peasants.

My Second Year of the War Frederick Palmer 1915

Thus again a practical knowledge of nature, of the habits of animals or the properties of fire and water, was in the old ordered state either an almost servile labour or a sort of joke; it was left to old women and gamekeepers and boys who went birds'-nesting.

Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens 1905

It had always been so even in the days when they had gone birds'-nesting or rook-shooting together in the woods around John's Devonshire home.

Fort Amity Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch 1903

How I longed now for the wasted time, for the classes when I played truant to go birds'-nesting, or to slide on the

Winning a Cause World War Stories Inez Bigwood 1901

He was never happier -- except when birds'-nesting or romping with young people -- than when he was in an arm-chair working out with pencil and paper some problem of administration which involved enormous figures.

The Mirrors of Downing Street Some Political Reflections by a Gentleman with a Duster Harold Begbie 1900

But for the chief's authority, they would have spread themselves over the place like birds'-nesting boys.

The Thrall of Leif the Lucky 1893

The first he gave to a boy whom he found birds'-nesting.

The Life and Death of Richard Yea-and-Nay Maurice Hewlett 1892