DECEIVING WILD CREATURES. 27 



curlew's nest in a limestone boulder-strewn pas- 

 ture not far distant, I carried my artificial rock 

 along, and fixed it up some sixty yards away, and 

 left it. Morning by morning for a week I moved 

 the structure nearer and nearer, until at last I 

 had it within sixteen feet of the nest and eggs 

 of what I think every experienced sportsman will 

 admit to be one of the shyest and wariest birds 

 in this country. 



Then I made a fatal mistake. I went inside 

 with the camera to wait whilst being watched by 

 my astute "sitter." 



For five hours and a half on end I knelt in 

 the cramped quarters afforded by the sham 

 boulder, and suffered indescribable agonies in my 

 nether limbs whilst the curlew walked round and 

 round, getting tantalisingly nearer and nearer, 

 and making me believe that another ten minutes 

 of waiting would put an end to my misery ; but 

 it did not, and I was very reluctantly compelled 

 to give in and admit defeat. During the last 

 half hour or two the pain in my knees was so 

 excruciating that I was (paradoxical as it may 

 sound) only sustained by cowardice, or, in other 

 words, a lack of the necessary courage to acknow- 

 ledge failure. 



The long wait had worked such havoc with 

 my legs that I fell down and helplessly rolled 

 over twice whilst descending a steep hillside to 



