ii8 



UIIJ) NATURE'S WAYS. 



proved conclu- 

 sively that the 

 birds had suf- 

 fered some loss, 

 and that they 

 only had two 

 instead of four 

 chic ks — the 

 usual number 

 reared by the 

 species. 



The red- 

 necked phala- 

 rope is one of 

 our rarest, 

 tamest, and 

 most elegant 

 summer visit- 

 ors. It still 

 breeds — or, to put it more accurately, attempts to 

 do so — in one or two old haunts in the Hebrides, 

 and elsewhere. 



I have spent a good deal of well-repaid time 

 in studying its engaging and confidential ways, 

 and can unhesitatingly assert that there is no 

 species capable of affording the student of bird 

 habits more unalloyed pleasure. Last summer I 

 waded knee-deep in the silting-up bay of a loch 

 for seven hours on end, studying and photo- 



BOYS DRIVING PHALAROPE. 



