134 A VISIT TO POCHARD TSEAND 
it up, shakes himself to get it well down, and 
flies away. One large entire worm seems to 
satisfy him, and he may then voice his 
thankfulness for the evening meal sitting on 
his favourite dead twig somewhere. 
Another sight I sometimes see on my lawn 
is that of a house-sparrow robbing a starling 
of his food. The effrontery of the smaller 
bird is remarkable and clever. He watches 
the starling till he has found a tit-bit—being 
not clever enough or too lazy to find it for 
himself—and then by a sudden dart snatches 
it rom, even -his very “beak. -Thetscegse 
natured starling takes this treatment quite 
as a matter of course, and pursues his even 
course strutting and hurrying along in search 
of more tit-bits. 
On Pochard Island we had found a late 
mallard’s nest with nine eggs. Amongst 
them was a rounded stone larger than any 
of them. Whether it had been placed there 
purposely, and, if so, for what reason, or 
whether the nest had been built over it, I 
do not know. 
