CHAPTER II. 



SOME CURIOSITIES OF WILD LIFE. 



TN the present chapter I 

 ^ propose to speak of a 

 few extraordinary happenings 

 of the countryside, in the 

 hope of stimulating the in- 

 terest of readers who do not 

 trouble to observe what is 

 going on from day to day 

 around them. 



x\mong the greatest de- 

 lights of natural history are 

 its surprises. You can never say with cer- 

 tainty that the conduct of the individual wild 

 creature — whether bird or beast — will be exactly 

 that of the species to which it belongs. Mind, 

 disposition, and circumstance all play their part 

 in the doings of Nature's children to a far greater 

 extent than is generally supposed. 



One partridge will forsake her nest and eggs 

 merely because you have discovered their where- 

 abouts, whilst another will stand by her home 

 with so much devotion that she will even come 



PHOTOGRAPHING A FLYING 

 BIRD WITH A GUN CAMERA. 



