204 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



and her new onv'i was only half grown. This 

 bird was quite bold, and readily allowed me to 

 photograph her at her nest. In fact, she was 

 brazen, for when I placed my cap over her chicks 

 in order to try to force her mate into alighting 

 on a piece of stick I had fixed in the groimd a 

 few feet behind, she actually alighted on my 

 obstructive headgear, and finally crept beneath 

 it to get to her young with food. 



In the case of the other pair of birds, things 

 were absolutely and surprisingly reversed. The 

 male — a timeworn-looking individual — was so 

 courageous that he could hardly be driven away 

 from the precincts of his nest, whereas his 

 mate — a beautifully prim little bird — was so shy 

 that she never once gave me an opportunity of 

 photographing her. Time after time she sat on 

 some gracefully bent spray towering advantag- 

 eously above the rest of the marsh growth, and 

 piped shrill notes of alarm until the small dragon 

 flies and moths she held in her bill died, when 

 she swallowed them, and Hew away do\\n wind 

 in search of more. 



I do not for a moment suggest that there was 

 any connection whatever between clothing and 

 courage. Shabbiness of attire and boldness were 

 mere coincidences serving to emphasise the more 

 strikingly how far individuality plays its part 

 amongst creatures whose lives and doings are 



