140 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVIII. 



perfectly unconcerned and at their ease, and to 

 depend entirely on the watchful eyes and ears of 

 their sentry. 



In the same way wild-geese, while feeding on the 

 open fields, invariably leave one bird to keep watch, 

 and most faithfully does she perform this duty. 

 Keeping on some high spot of the field she stands 

 with neck perfectly erect, watching on all sides, and 

 listening to every sound far or near. Nor does she 

 attempt to snatch at a single grain, however hungry 

 she may be, till one of her comrades thinks fit to re- 

 lieve her guard; and then the former sentinel sets to 

 work at her feeding with an eagerness which shows 

 that her abstinence while on duty was the result 

 not of want of appetite, but of a proper sense of the 

 important trust imposed on her. If any enemy or 

 the slightest cause of suspicion appears, the sentry 

 utters a low croak, when the whole flock imme- 

 diately run up to her, and, after a short consulta- 

 tion, fly off, leaving the unfortunate sportsman to 

 lament having shown the button of his cap or the 

 muzzle of his gun above the bank of the ditch, 

 along which he had perhaps been creeping, " sua- 

 dente diabolo," for the last half-hour up to his knees 

 in water, well iced to the temperature of a Scotch 

 morning in February. Thus also wild-ducks, cur- 

 lews, crows, and almost all birds when feeding in 



