6 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



and quickly had it standing beside a skylark's 

 nest containing two young ones. 



The bird was so completely deceived by the 

 lifelike solemnity of the great mild-eyed beast 

 standing within five feet of her nest, that she 

 came again and again, without hesitation, to feed 

 her chicks. She either failed to notice, or did not 

 heed, the centipedal appearance given to him by 

 the accession of a pair of human legs beneath 

 his body. 



The pleasant satisfaction of having a long- 

 cherished idea so completely justified, and the 

 exhilarating rapidity with which pictures of the 

 lark were added, considerably mollified the effects 

 of the awful pain I began to suffer in my lumbar 

 regions through stooping over the camera so long 

 in the Jonah-like quarters afforded by the interior 

 of the ox. 



Although at first startled by the unbovine- 

 like noise of the focal plane shutter, which was 

 being used for the making of rapid exposures 

 upon her, the bird never once appeared to suspect 

 my presence, so that when I was at last compelled 

 by sheer agony to drop from my place of con- 

 cealment whilst she was at home taking a rest, 

 she received a genuine surprise. Upon catching 

 sight of me, she sprang almost vertically into the 

 air, and, dropping amongst the grass a yard or 

 two behind her nest, stared with outstretched 



