AUGUST, 1882. 221 



as he is. He is fresh from the moor above a common, 

 sober-suited, well-fed bunting and, after shifting from 

 one foot to the other, goes off in a series of rainbow 

 curves. For he is one of the jerky fliers, as if his body 

 were too heavy for his power of flight, and obliged him 

 to progress by spurts. 



Suddenly our observations are interrupted by our name 

 being called, while our attention is directed to the cack- 

 ling of a hen on the little wooded knoll, and we are 

 implored to discover the nest of the errant fowl. Now 

 this is one of the penalties of greatness, we sigh, as we 

 emerge from our den and seek the hillside. Were it not 

 that some one of a shrewd, sensible turn of mind could 

 turn dilettante qualities to practical use, what value would 

 they be to the world ? And so a sound head, having 

 discovered that we are not unskilful bird-nesters, sends 

 us forth to utilise our faculty in a manner directly 

 advantageous to the breakfast table ! The voice of the 

 voluble bird soon gives us a general direction as to the 

 whereabouts of the nest, but the moment we are observed 

 approaching the hen slops its music and skulks silently 

 through the brushwood. You silly creature, if your 

 instincts have led you to such a natural and sequestered 

 nook for your nest, what purpose can your cackling serve 

 but to undo your otherwise secretive tendency ? Or is 

 the secretive instinct derived from wild ancestors, and 

 the proud proclamation of having delivered an egg the 

 result of human intercourse, and an evidence of domestic 

 slavery? We are not aware whether any wild gallina- 

 ceous fowls cackle under similar circumstances, but, from 

 the silence observed by all wild birds on the nest, we 

 should scarcely expect the peculiarity to be other than 

 the result of love of admiration, and a self-satisfied 



