At the End of June 



You are in dangerous proximity to a 

 nest, perhaps, and they must draw you 

 away! 



Or, it may be, only a yard or two from 

 your peering eyes — that search but see 

 not — is a fledghng spending his first day 

 from home on a branch where the leaves 

 are thickest and hardest to explore; and 

 the parent birds are hoping with all their 

 woodland hearts you may not discover him. 



Moreover, they will resort at times to 

 art and strategy to divert you. I have been 

 convinced on one or two occasions that some 

 birds really become ventriloquists of a 

 sort, when driven to it. Their voice will 

 seem to fall from in front and from behind 

 at almost the same moment, until you 

 give up in despair trying to locate it. 



And others have other tricks by which 

 to save their nests and their offspring 

 should occasion demand. Often have I 

 seen the Turtle Dove, when surprised upon 

 his nest, drop to the ground and go strug- 

 gling away, in short, quick hops and broken 

 flights, as if wounded, so that you may 



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