BIRDS. 49 



swoop convinced me that a further wait would 

 be rewarded. And it certainly was, for I had the 

 pleasure of seeing my first whimbrel's nest, con- 

 taining four beautifully marked eggs, which my 

 brother photographed in situ. Let me add, for 

 the satisfaction of all bird-lovers, that we left the 

 nest and eggs undisturbed to help to swell the 

 ranks of this much-harassed and none too numerous 

 species. 



The secret of success in finding birds' nests 

 lies in cultivating and quickening the powers of 

 observation. As an instance of what may be ac- 

 complished by training this faculty, I may mention 

 an incident in my own career. My brother and I 

 had specially journeyed down to Norfolk to photo- 

 graph the nest and eggs of a bearded tit, or reed 

 pheasant ; but, alas ! when we got there some 

 ruthless hand had removed the last one of which 

 the marshmen had any knowledge, and they were 

 extremely doubtful whether we should be able to 

 find another, as it was late in the season. How- 

 ever, nothing daunted, we tried hard and long, and 

 failed ; but when we were on our way home 

 something unexpected happened. One of the two 

 old marshmen who accompanied us suddenly re- 

 membered that he wanted to show us a wild 

 duck's nest containing twelve eggs. We were tired 

 and gloomy over our ill-luck, and didn't care a 

 fig about seeing the duck's nest, as we had 

 examined many scores belonging to the species 

 E 



