THE BIRDS OF COWSLIP CORNER 157 



and bioscope. While securing living 

 photographs I saw the very prettiest little 

 incident that I have ever seen while 

 photographing our smaller birds. The 

 female was inside attending to her young, 

 when her mate came down and settled 

 on a small twig just above. A moment 

 or two later he flew to the nest, and 

 seeing that his mate was inside and 

 busy, he waited outside. Very patiently 

 he stood there just at the entrance, and 

 lying across the tip of his beak was an 

 insect. He kept quite motionless until 

 his mate had finished feeding the young 

 with the food that she had brought. 

 Suddenly she looked up, and saw her 

 mate there. Instead of giving way and 

 allowing him to enter the nest, she went 

 towards him, and very beautifully lifted 

 up her little beak and tenderly took this 

 love-gift from him. As soon as she had 

 done this he flew away for another supply, 

 and she handed the insect to one of her 



