186 RIVERBY 



bushes tried again. But again they came to grief. 

 Then, after some delay, the mother bird made a bold 

 stroke. She seemed to reason with herself thus: 

 " Since I have fared so disastrously in seeking seclu- 

 sion for my nest, I will now adopt the opposite tac- 

 tics, and come out fairly in the open. What hides 

 me hides my enemies : let us try greater publicity. " 

 So she came out and built her nest by a few small 

 shoots that grew beside the path that divides the two 

 vineyards, and where we passed to and fro many 

 times daily. I discovered her by chance early in 

 the morning as I proceeded to my work. She started 

 up at my feet and flitted quickly along above the 

 plowed ground, almost as red as the soil. I ad- 

 mired her audacity. Surely no prowler by night 

 or day would suspect a nest in this open and ex- 

 posed place. There was no cover by which they 

 could approach, and no concealment anywhere. 

 The nest was a hasty affair, as if the birds' patience 

 at nest-building had been about exhausted. Pres- 

 ently an egg appeared, and then the next day an- 

 other, and on the fourth day a third. No doubt the 

 bird would have succeeded this time had not man 

 interfered. In cultivating the vineyards the horse 

 and cultivator had to pass over this very spot. 

 Upon this the bird had not calculated. I determined 

 to assist her. I called my man, and told him there 

 was one spot in that vineyard, no bigger than his 

 hand, where the horse's foot must not be allowed 

 to fall, nor tooth of cultivator to touch. Then I 

 showed him the nest, and charged him to avoid it. 



