WILD WINGS: A FAREWELL 295 



ality that these birds were like old practised hands 

 or professionals at the game, and the others mere 

 amateurs or beginners. 



On describing what I had witnessed to an old 

 fisherman and fowler, he said, "I've watched them 

 playing like that many and many a time, and have 

 thought to myself, they're just like a lot o' children." 



I doubt if anyone who has observed birds in com- 

 pany closely, especially when they have come to- 

 gether, as in the case of the hooded crows, just for 

 recreation, has not occasionally had this same thought 

 — just like a lot of little children! 



It is, as I remarked in the chapter on the marsh 

 warbler, a delightful experience to a field naturalist 

 to sit at ease, binocular in hand, at a proper distance 

 from a company of birds and watch them at their 

 little games. The right distance varies according to 

 the species and the nature of the ground; it should 

 always be outside the danger limit, so that if they 

 see the spectator they do not heed him and are 

 practically unconscious of his presence. Whatever 

 that distance may be, a nine to twelve prismatic glass 

 will bring them within a dozen yards of his vision. 



This delight was mine almost every day at the 

 spots where the birds were accustomed to congregate 

 on the meadows and by the sea. I could watch them 

 by the hour and was never disappointed, even when 

 there was nothing particular to see, or at all events 

 nothing worth noting down. The more the species in 

 a gathering the greater the interest one takes in watch- 

 ing them, on account of the marked difference in 



