200 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



her foster-chick, and then stood and gazed in 

 blank astonishment at the dusky stranger sprawl- 

 ing impotently in the rear. 



Time after time, when not buried beyond the 

 power to do so by the lusty body of its com- 

 panion, the frail reed warbler manfully held up 

 its wee waggling head, and opened its mouth in 

 dumb request, but in vain — for instead of giving 

 it a morsel, the old birds made several attempts 

 to lift it from the nest, as if it had been refuse 

 to be removed in the ordinary process of scaven- 

 gering. 



The reed warbler, although having its grand 

 headquarters in Broadland, breeds in many other 

 parts of the country, affording it suitable con- 

 ditions of existence. It builds a beautiful deep 

 cup-shaped nest, which is generally suspended 

 between three or four reed stems over the water. 

 The specimen figured in our brace of illustrations 

 is a very poor example of the architectural skill 

 of the species, because of the lamentable fact 

 that it was found in a part of the country where 

 the birds are so persistently robbed that they 

 are compelled to make attempt after attempt at 

 housekeeping. 



I had the owners of this particular nest, 

 which contained a brood of tiny j^oung ones, 

 under observation for some time. The duties of 

 the household were very equally divided between 



