36 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



sitting bird. Although it bumped down in the 

 heather within a few feet of the merlin, she 

 took no notice of it, but sat stubbornly on 

 until I was at last reluctantly compelled to give 

 away my secret by crawling into full view. 



The following day being Sunday, and having 

 good reason to believe that the mountain falcon 

 would receive some attention from a local pro- 

 fessional collector, I dismantled my tent, and 

 hid everything away in an abrupt declivity not 

 many yards distant. 



Determined to save the bird's eggs from the 

 ruining blast of the blowpipe, I rose at 4.30 next 

 morning, and walking up the hills with a good 

 supply of sandwiches in my pockets, took up my 

 station amongst the deep bracken already men- 

 tioned, and waited and watched all day. 



On the Monday I tried to secure some more 

 pictures of the merlin at home, as nearly all 

 those I had already taken showed movement in 

 the wind-waved heather around her. My luck 

 had, however, completely forsaken me. After 

 waiting an hour without any sign of the bird, I 

 imagined I heard somebody whistling a popular 

 air, and peeping out of a hole in the cover of 

 my tent, was dismayed to see the small boy I 

 had taken up from a shepherd's house to act as 

 decoyman for me, and whom I had told to return 

 straight home again after I had gone into hiding, 



