BIRDS. 83 



than I ever supposed. One day I erected our 

 rubbish-heap close to a chaffinch's nest containing 

 a brood of five half-grown young ones, and took 

 up my station inside. The male bird fed the 

 chicks four times for the female's once, and 

 when he had distributed his harvest of caterpillars 

 most impartially amongst his clamorous sons and 

 daughters, he attended to the sanitary require- 

 ments of his little establishment. 



Young fledglings often afford a great deal of 

 sport when stalked along a hedge-side with the 

 camera, and, as a rule, yield surprisingly pretty 

 pictures when photographed ; but, at the same 

 time, they have a very provoking habit of sud- 

 denly remembering an engagement elsewhere, just 

 when they have been focussed in the sweetest of 

 all possible attitudes. 



The picture on page 84, representing a young 

 red-backed shrike on a spray of wild rose, was 

 made soon after it had left its nest. The young 

 of the species always proclaim their presence by 

 their harsh notes when being fed, and their male 

 parent is very bold in defending them. One day 

 I was amusing myself by imitating a young rabbit 

 squealing, as if it had been caught by an enemy, 

 and watching the antics of the alarmed mother of 

 a litter kick the ground with her hind feet, when 

 I became aware of a bird darting at my head. It 

 was a male red-backed shrike, close to the nest 

 and almost fully-fledged young ones of which I 



