NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
When we next visited it, every egg was 
gone. 
The parents seemed to connect us in some 
way with the catastrophe, and were much 
more wary in concealing the second nest, 
which they made in a near-by meadow. So 
jealously did the long grass guard their 
secret that we could find no trace of it until 
the young birds were hatched and partly 
feathered. In fact, it was only the great 
anxiety of the parents that betrayed them. 
We lay down flat on our faces in the long 
grass on top of the hill, and with field glasses 
and patience at length located the nest. 
The mother bird flew from it to a tree fifty 
feet away, looked about nervously, and then 
darted swiftly to a boggy place for slugs. 
Soon she was back in the tree with her 
mouth full of food for the nestlings, and, 
after another hurried look around for danger, 
went directly to the nest. Ina few moments 
she repeated this manoeuvre, and, as long as 
we watched her, made the trip every ten 
minutes. It may be she suspected danger, 
22 
