SIDE I.IGHTS ON BIRDS 



prepare for a further attack. The persistency 

 and regularity of the movements of the birds 

 have plainly a most bewildering effect upon the 

 intruder, and he makes his escape from the dis- 

 turbed area at the earliest opportunity. 



To the left of the hotel, built in irregular order, 

 in a setting of firs and silver birches, are a number 

 of small wooden houses, and here the wagtails 

 and pied flycatchers have formed quite a little 

 settlement of their own. In one case the house 

 is constructed around a large rock, and one ap- 

 proaches the doorway by climbing from one natural 

 ledge to another. On this stairway of Nature 

 an old woman, wearing the picturesque head-gear 

 of her country, is seated, busily knitting. At 

 the side of the house a tree in full green leaf 

 grows, barely hiding a small round hole in the 

 timbers at the side of the doorway. Here the 

 little pied flycatchers pop in and out ; now the 

 sober-hued hen alights on the rock at the old 

 dame's feet ; now the cock airs his black and 

 white plumes amid the green leaves within a few 

 inches of her long steadily moving needles. Per- 

 fect familiarity has removed all trace of fear on 

 the one part, and of curiosity on the other. The 

 patient knitter never raises her head to glance at 

 the birds ; the birds pursue their daily labours, 

 with little interludes of song and flirtation, without 

 reference to the house-mother, who watches over 

 the common home. With the chickens on the 

 rock, clustering about the doorway, and frequently 

 entering the room, the little family picture is 

 complete. 



The lakes behind the hotel form a chain, linked 

 together by a narrow river. In one case the 

 channel is barely wide enough to admit the boat, 

 and the propelhng is done by thrusting an oar into 

 either bank alternately. The banks rise high 



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