108 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



not the more agitated or devoted, and I 

 have knowTi the hen stand by her eggs or 

 little chicks, guarding them against an 

 intruder only five yards distant — this, 

 moreover, on a first interview. 



When accustomed to myself and the 

 camera, I have taken exposures without 

 any kind of screen, and at a distance of 

 about twenty feet. Even on his autumn 

 and winter hunting grounds, and long 

 after the tune has gone for defence of 

 young or protection of nest, he will pass 

 unconcernedly in strong, level flight but a 

 few feet distant. 



At all times his joy is to pursue and 

 attack the Harrier, who, when pressed, 

 turns over in the air, and, lying on his 

 back, stretches up in defence his sharp 

 and terrible talons. 



One pair of Falcons — I suppose the same 

 birds — used a cliff site for many successive 

 seasons, but this return to an old site, or 

 even its immediate vicinity, is in my 

 experience, quite exceptional. The eggs are 

 laid on the spot chosen; if at the base of 

 a conglomerate cliff, then on the ferruginous 



