76 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



nest, and the male fed her whilst standing on 

 her shoulders in the same way that meadow 

 pipits and other small birds may frequently be 

 seen feeding young cuckoos after they have left 

 the nest. 



I now changed things all back to their original 

 condition of existence, and although there was a 

 certain amount of mild surprise visible in the 

 attitudes of both the female song thrush and 

 redbreast, everybody quickly became used to, and 

 apparently well contented with, the old order. 



These and similar experiments already men- 

 tioned, convince me that the parasitic path of 

 the cuckoo is an extremely easy one. 



Strange accidents sometimes befall birds. 

 Whilst in the Highlands of Scotland last summer, 

 trying to secure photographs of red-necked pha- 

 laropes swimming on the surface of a small pool 

 close to a favourite loch, a couple of bare-legged 

 boys came to watch me at work, and volunteered 

 to drive the confiding little birds within my field 

 of focus. As there were no stones available for 

 casting, with a frightening splash, into parts of 

 the loch too deep for the boys to wade, the elder 

 of the two took a number of stale eggs from a 

 deserted moor-hen's nest and began to hurl them 

 beyond the birds. To my amazement and great 

 grief, one of these clumsily thrown missiles struck 

 a phalarope on the head, and killed it instantly. 



