A TIRED TRAVELLER 101 



flock dropped exhausted into the sea. They could 

 not remain here in this treeless exposed place, where 

 the water is salt and there is little food to find. I was 

 looking for something to eat at the roots of the grasses 

 when this man appeared and caused me to flutter up 

 to my perch. Had this strange weakness not been in 

 me I should have rushed away in the greatest terror 

 on seeing him so near ; for we are exceedingly shy of 

 man, fearing him even more than hawk or hooded 

 crow. But my weakness would not allow me to fly, 

 and now I have lost my fear, for though he continues 

 to watch me it is plain that he has no intention of 

 harming me." 



Having finished this little rambling talk to himself, 

 a review of his late experiences and present condition, 

 he once more attempted to fly, but settled again on a 

 stick not twenty yards away, and there he appeared dis- 

 posed to stay, his head well drawn in, the beak raised, 

 his bright eyes commanding a view of the wide sky 

 above. He would be able to see a flock of passing red- 

 wings and call to them, and if the feeble sound reached 

 them it would perhaps bring them down to have 

 speech with and cheer him in his loneliness. He would 

 also be able to catch sight of a prowling crow coming 

 his way ; for he feared the crow, knowing it for an 

 enemy of the weak and ailing, and would have time 

 to hide himself in the long grass. 



There I left him, going away along the shore, but an 

 hour or two later I returned to the same spot, coming 

 over the wide sands, and lo ! where I had left one red- 



