134 A MOOELAND SANCTUARY 



duck, crossing a litfcle pool beyond a near clump 

 of reeds, had been compelled to dive repeatedly 

 to escape the bittern's fierce attack, and then, 

 having failed to elude her pursuers in the 

 shallow water, had taken flight in the direction 

 of some more peaceful part of the mere. The 

 curlew, whose home was on the further shore of 

 the pool, dared not wander afoot through the 

 archway of the flags by the edge of the water. 

 For long, each day, he took up his post as 

 sentinel at some distance from his sitting mate, 

 and piped disconsolately, as if longing to return 

 to his old look-out station the very tussock 

 on which the bitterns' nest was constructed. 

 Except to scare intruders, the bitterns, however, 

 seldom moved, during the day, from the im- 

 mediate vicinity of their nest. While the hen 

 brooded and slept, the cock, his head well 

 hidden in the soft plumage of his breast, stood 

 near a clump of reeds on the margin of the pool, 

 and dozed the quiet hours away, or, alert for 

 signs of danger, watched the flight of passing 

 birds. No approaching shadow seemed to 

 escape his notice ; the pool before him was a 

 faithful mirror of everything that happened in 

 the sky. Alike in sunshine and in shadow both 

 he and his mate were almost invisible, so 

 perfectly did the colours of their plumage 

 harmonise with those of surrounding objects. 



