At Home with Wild Nature 



excited babel going on all round. They had discovered 

 the eggs of the grouse, exposed in order that I might 

 secure a plain view of the bird when she came home, and 

 were going to have them. For a moment or two I could 

 not make up my mind whether to rush out of the tent 

 and scare them away or keep quiet and photograph the 

 robbers in flagrante delicto, but finally decided upon the 

 latter course. 



Two or three of the bolder spirits in the act of dash- 

 ing in to secure the prize suddenly caught sight of the 

 fearsome eye of my camera; there was a tremendous 

 flutter of wings, and the whole flock of sable rogues 

 went off as if shot at. 



In a little while the grouse walked warily back again, 

 and after passing and repassing amongst the young 

 bracken stalks at the back of the nest, crept quietly on 

 and, without stirring, allowed me to take the photo- 

 graph forming the frontispiece to the present volume 

 and other pictures. 



Once or twice the old cock came home to see how she 

 was getting on, and walked past the nest uttering a 

 short chuckling call I had never before heard a grouse 

 employ. 



Upon leaving, my hiding contrivance and everything 

 connected with it was removed out of sight, and the 

 bird's nest carefully hidden by an additional supply of 

 dead brackens. We hung round the place until the rooks 

 had all winged their way back to their roosting quarters, 

 and then left the grouse sitting snugly on her eggs. 



Next day I tried her with my moving-picture camera 



100 



