Y 
296 THE BIRD WATCHER 
the chick. In SPC second white-eyed bird came 
several times up to if with an important air, but also 
with a curious, hesitating action, and an expression as 
though in doubt what to do. The other white-eyed 
one would then bustle up in much the same way, 
causing the first to retreat; but after a little while, 
the two being exactly alike, I became quite bewildered, 
and could not possibly say which was and which was 
not the parent—a good evidence, I think, of the 
similarity of their behaviour. All this, and many 
other little things which struck me at the time, but 
which I could not then note down, and have now 
forgotten, convinced me that the flight from the 
ledge would not be long delayed. Though miserably 
uncomfortable, therefore, I waited and waited, in hopes 
to see it; but it grew late, the sun had sunk, and 
as I had a steep ascent to make, with some amount of 
climbing even before I came to it, it would not do to 
stay longer. Cliffs like these are not to be ascended 
in the dark—at least, not by me. To-morrow I feel 
quite certain that the birds will be gone. 
