90 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



observations, this trick of the wagtail's would be a 

 very perfect defence. If one had not, two weeks ago, 

 seen the wagtail through a field-glass carrying a 

 feather to the broken cart, one would never have 

 thought of hunting among the rank nettles that 

 grow round it until one found the cleverly hidden 

 nest ; and now you would not know that the hen 

 bird was sitting there upon eggs if you did not 

 understand the conversation of the wagtail. The 

 chief danger to small birds' nests near the ground 

 is that the hen may be startled off at an enemy's 

 approach, and so betray it. Warblers' nests, for 

 instance, are most easily found in this way, because 

 the male bird, foraging among the bushes, very 

 seldom detects your presence in time to warn his 

 wife. But the wagtail, feeding in the open, and 

 seldom very far from the nest, which is generally 

 built within call of the water-side, sees you coming, 

 takes up a position from which he can watch your 

 movements, and keeps his listening wife fully informed 

 of every step you take. 



THE THRUSH'S SECRET. 



As you enter a coppice an old thrush suddenly 

 flies up into a tree, and with a single sharp croak 

 tells you that his children are quite close to you. It 

 was not, of course, his intention to tell you anything 

 of the kind. He simply shouted to them to keep 

 still, if they valued their lives ; and it is the same 

 pestilent human habit of putting two and two 

 together which makes you pause on the shady 

 threshold of the trees and peer about till you see 



