220 



WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



good the deficiency with my fingers, and directly 

 I attempted to do so, became heartbreakingly 

 aware that my hands were useless. The pressure 

 of the gunwale of the craft on the muscles of my 

 arms had played such ha\'oc with their physiology 

 that they were temporarily paralysed. 



YOUNG CRESTED GREBES. 



\\'ith breathless care I wriggled backwards, 

 and dragging my useless limbs into the boat, 

 waited until the power of movement came back 

 to them, when I cautiously mo\Td in a forward 

 direction again, and fired off. The grebe instantly 

 took alarm, and by two or three incredibly swift 

 movements of her bill covered the eggs, and 



