52 



WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



her nest, containing two of my wooden song thrush 

 eggs, which were about twice the size of her own. 

 I watched her cover the dummies over and over 

 again, and never once did she show the shghtest 

 sign of suspicion in regard to the deception. 



I tried my counterfeits upon a ringed plover 

 one day, but her intehigence proved superior to 

 unreasoning maternal passion. The incubating 

 bird would not sit down upon the shams, which 

 she hammered with her bill in a most sceptical 

 fashion. \Mien I had given her a fair trial, I 

 took one of the three wooden eggs away, and 

 added two of the bird's own. In a little while 

 she came back, and tried to turn the deceptions 

 out of her nest, but, failing to accomplish her 

 desire, reluctantly sat down and covered good 

 and bad alike. 



VIEW ON THE AVON 



