20 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



to be made for this love of display in birds as young as we were, but father's 

 vanity seemed even to us deplorable; he spent whole hours in preening and 

 smoothing the bright black feathers of his waistcoat, and though mother did 

 her best to excuse him by saying that when he lost this one he would have to 

 go six months without another, we all thought he was becoming neglectful of 

 his paternal duties, and one of my sisters finally said so outright, receiving in 

 return a violent peck from father, which left a long ugly scar across her fore- 

 head, and only just missed injuring the eye itself. 



One day in early August I had a terrible experience. Soon after mid- 

 day two men appeared upon the moor accompanied by a dog. We had all 

 heard of shooters, and been taught to dread them from our earliest days, and 

 mother was in favour of instant flight. Father however declared that there was 

 no need for alarm ; the men had no guns with them, or we should have seen 

 the barrels glistening, and in any case no shooting would be allowed at that 

 time for fear of disturbing the grouse. They were only health-seekers come to 

 the moors for exercise and fresh air. He followed up his remarks by volun- 

 teering to go and reconnoitre. Up he rose, and flew swiftly round them two or 

 three times out of sheer bravado, and then came back to us with the news that 

 there was nothing to fear. 



" I don't like the look of that dog, my dear," said mother, as the three drew 

 nearer to where we crouched ; " if the men don't mean mischief, he does." 

 And sure enough their spaniel had got wind of us and was rapidly approaching 

 our retreat. We scuttled wildly; and father and mother, now fully alive to the 

 danger, rose and flew with shrill cries round the heads of these intruders on our 

 domain. As for me I lay half fascinated under a tuft of grass, and when I saw 

 the monster's foam-flecked mouth drawing near me, and heard the fierce gasps 

 that he emitted, I closed my eyes and gave myself up for lost. A moment 

 later I was engulfed in a slimy chasm, where I lay too frightened to struggle or 

 even to utter a squeak. 



" Hallo! Jack, what's Shot got hold of? A young Dunlin, I believe. Here, 

 Shot, drop it, dead," I heard a voice cry out above us, and then I was gently 

 deposited on the ground, a hand closed over me and I was lifted up and curiously 

 inspected by four gigantic eyes. 



"What a pretty little chap," I heard, not without satisfaction, another 

 voice remark ; " but what a monstrous pair of feet he has ; put him down and 

 let us see him run." 



Though not equally flattered by the last remark, I at once seized my oppor- 

 tunity and made tracks without delay to the nearest cover, the men meanwhile 

 laughing heartily, and holding in the dog, which did its best to renew the chase. 



