How to Attract the Birds 



advantage of deceptive colouring is that their prey 

 often come unawares within striking distance. The 

 bittern standing motionless in his marshy home, 

 his neck stretched upward, looks far less like a bird 

 when in this attitude than like a stump or snag 

 among the bushes. But look out for his wing slap 

 a^d thrust of the sharp beak if he thinks his clever 

 deception has failed ! A weapon intended to impale 

 frogs makes an ugly wound on the human body. 



It takes very sharp eyes indeed to tell bird from 

 tree when the nighthawk flattens and stretches her- 

 self lengthwise along the log or horizontal limb, 

 with whose mottled colouring her own blends so 

 perfectly. Certain rocks match not only her plum- 

 age but her eggs too, which is why she .often chooses 

 a depression in such a rock to cradle them when a 

 decayed stump or suitable site on the bare ground 

 among dry leaves cannot be found. Indeed, the 

 mottled eggs of both the nighthawk and the whip- 

 poorwill are as difficult to detect as any laid, although 

 neither bird takes the trouble to build a nest. 



Certain beach birds which lay their eggs among 

 the sand and pebbles above high-water mark allow 

 the sun to do most of the incubating while they ply 

 the waters for food with an easy mind, feeling quite 

 sure that the sharpest-eyed enemy cannot detect their 

 treasures scattered among the shingle. Gulls and 

 terns, which have favourite islands off our coast, 

 return to them generation after generation to rear 

 their families. Colonies of terns choose a nesting 

 site on the mottled beach among rounded pebbles 

 of the same size, shape and colour as their eggs, on 

 which one may innocently tread, so perfectly are 



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