MIDDLE OF MAY 61 
but strong, and, when looked through, showed 
a greenish-yellow light, which told me that 
the plates would need a lengthier exposure 
than was usually required. Since the stems 
were still quite young, it followed that the 
nest would rise as they grew higher, and so 
be safe from floods and rats, and yet not 
be so high as to catch the wind (for the 
structure of the nest was very frail) or be 
seen by hawks ard suchhke pillagers. The 
hen had glided from the nest into some 
bushes near—a sleek brown object slipping 
quietly away. And thus we found her nest. 
She did not need to tell her consort she had 
left the eggs. For he, though hidden in the 
oak above, renewed his warbles with a 
troubled strain, and kept them up _ un- 
ceasingly, making one wish that he could be 
tamed and take a place amongst caged 
birds. Whilst I was focussing (hidden as | 
almost was amongst the reeds) I saw the 
hen bird peering with an anxious look into 
her nest, but only just to see that the eggs 
were there. For when I made a movement 
