Although Algy had his own favourite patch of snowdrops, they were by no means the only snowdrops in his assistants' garden, and he felt that it would be most unfair to overlook the others, for all snowdrop flowers were surely equally lovely and enticing, no matter where they grew.
So when the sun emerged rather timidly on the following day, Algy decided to indulge in a general tour of inspection, notwithstanding the very brisk wind that kept ruffling his feathers in a rather less than pleasant way… or, more accurately, withstanding it, with the hidden fortitude of a surprisingly fluffy bird…
As he approached the big fallen fir tree, Algy spotted a wee patch of snowdrops among the rough grass nearby whose flowers were rather more open than those in other areas of the garden.
Alighting beside them, Algy stretched himself out on the grass in order to be able to inspect them more closely – and in the process, of course, gaining valuable protection from the bullying wind, although it did mean that his tummy feathers soon became rather uncomfortably damp, for the ground in the wild west Highlands of Scotland is rarely, if ever, anything other than wet…
Inhaling the delicate fragrance of the flowers with great delight, Algy suddenly remembered that he had been told that breathing on plants produced a nurturing effect, because they thrived on the warmth and carbon dioxide of exhaled breath. So as often as he breathed in to enjoy their fragrance, Algy breathed gently out again across the nodding flowers, to help them grow and blossom more freely…