l8 THE GAME OF BRITISH FAST AI-RICA. 



with wild nature that he, as often as not, may assign quite wrong motives to its 

 conduct. Here is an instance, purely hypothetical, of how different ideas may be 

 gained from an observation of the same circumstance. When the grass is fired small 

 birds collect round the spot and dart in and out of the flames. This we will suppose 

 has been noticed by two observers, people of widely differing temperament, on 

 several different occasions. 



The first observer, a sentimentalist, might write : — 



" As the all-devouring flames leapt forward, licking up the ground, a small bird 

 rushed into their very midst. It was piteous to see this tiny fluttering mite, uttering 

 the most forlorn and despairing cries, dash again and again into the flames, reckless of 

 heat or smoke. It would seem as if she was bent on self-destruction from the way 

 she braved the fiery tongues. What could it be that made this tender thing face 

 the awful furnace ? Only one thing would lead her to be so daring, a mother's love 

 for her offspring. The lambent flames were enveloping and destroying her little 

 nest, her home and young, while she, with heart-rending screams, was darting hither 

 and thither powerless to save them." 



The next observer might write : — 



" As the flames crept forward they doubtless drove multitudinous insects from 

 their retreats. Now was the time for insectivorous birds to gorge themselves to 

 repletion off their defenceless prey. Even as we watched, a bird flew down, darting 

 hither and thither, uttering discordant and jubilant screeches as it fell on its helpless 

 victims. Nothing could equal the audacity of this rapacious bird as it flaunted 

 itself before the flames and dived into their very midst, insatiable in its lust of 

 killing." 



The reader must please pardon these effusions, but they may explain, better 

 than 1 could otherwise do, how temperament may affect the quality of observations. 

 Granting this, a very considerable divergence in any two men's conclusions 

 on the habits of game or any other wild animal is quite likely to occur, and is to 

 a certain extent explainable. 



