66 WILD LIFE AT HOME. 



revealed only the back of the male and part of 

 the breast of the female. We afterwards made 

 several studies with one of the parent birds at the 

 nest, as shown on the previous page. 



In the ordinary course of things a thrush is 

 a very easy bird to photograph, provided the 

 naturalist and his apparatus be well hidden, for 

 it is a bird of much deliberation, and will stand 

 listening for minutes together. 



Although I fondly imagined that this particular 

 thrush's nest was out of the reach of feline robbers, 

 it was discovered, and one of the farm hands, 

 upon seeing a cat run away from the place, looked 

 to see whether the fledglings were safe, and found 

 some of their remains upon the hay-elevator. 



A pied female blackbird had lived all the 

 winter and spring in and about the paddock where 

 the great tits bred, and we were very anxious to 

 find her nest, with a view to photographing her 

 from our tree-trunk. In due time we found it in 

 a hedgerow on the far side of the paddock, and 

 about a hundred yards from the farmhouse. It 

 contained one egg. When four had been laid, and 

 the bird had sat upon them for thirteen days 

 and no chicks appeared, I began to fear that 

 her abnormal appearance had perhaps prevented her 

 from securing a mate. I was greatly desirous of 

 saving the situation, in order that we might photo- 

 graph her in the act of feeding her young ones, 

 so went off and fetched an egg that was just 



