22 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



with wild birds and wild nature in the uncontroll- 

 able impulses of migration. 



In this country, chequered by watercourses, and 

 where the game-keeper comes not, the balance of 

 nature is preserved as of old. A black and white 

 bird, as large as a pigeon and with long graceful 

 tail, chattering as it flies, alights on the ground 

 some distance off. It is followed by its mate, 

 and you see they are both in anxious attendance 

 on seven quaint-looking young ones just from the 

 nest and as yet almost tailless. It is a family of 

 magpies. This bird which has its place so firmly 

 established in the folk-lore and literature of Euro- 

 pean peoples has become extinct in many parts of 

 the country because of the persecution to which 

 it is subjected by game-preservers. There are 

 many nests here, and in the spring-time the dome- 

 shaped structure silhouetted against the sky in 

 the low trees is a characteristic feature of the 

 landscape. Yonder in the topmost branches of a 

 low ash sits the solitary carrion crow. He also has 

 lost character elsewhere, but he finds a refuge in 

 this land, and the nest, always built alone, is in 

 keeping with the hunted habits of the bird. 



In one of the distant water-leads the eye catches 

 a grey object against the background of green, 

 looking strangely foreign to the landscape. As 

 you advance cautiously it proves to be a large 

 blue-grey bird standing in the shallow water. It 

 is a striking sight at close quarters, with something 

 quite eastern in the appearance. The tall legs 

 lift the body high above the surface. The flexed 

 neck is tucked into the shoulders. The long murder- 

 ous looking beak is poised downwards as the bird 



