IDLE DAYS 127 



hours through the bushes to listen to the birds, 

 learning their language and making myself fa- 

 miliar with their habits. How coy are some spe- 

 cies whose instincts ever impel them to conceal- 

 ment! What vigilance, keen and never relaxed, 

 is theirs ! Difficult even to catch a passing glimpse 

 of them as they skulk from notice, how much more 

 so to observe them disporting themselves without 

 fear or restraint, unconscious of any intrusive 

 presence ! Yet such observation only satisfies the 

 naturalist, and when obtained it amply repays the 

 silence, the watching, and the waiting it costs. 

 In some cases the opportunities are so rare that 

 whilst they are being sought, and without ever 

 actually occurring, the observer day by day grows 

 more familiar with the manners of the wild crea- 

 tures that still succeed in eluding his sight. 



Now the little cock (Ehinocrypa lanceolata), an 

 amusing bird that lives on the ground, carries its 

 tail erect and looks wonderfully like a very small 

 bantam, has spied me, and, full of alarm, utters 

 his loud chirrup from an adjacent bush. Gently I 

 steal towards him, careful to tread on the sand, 

 then peer cautiously into the foliage. For a few 

 moments he scolds me with loud, emphatic tones," 

 and then is silent. Fancying him still in the 

 same place, I walk about the bush many times, 

 striving to catch sight of him. Suddenly the loud 

 chirrup is resumed in a bush a stone 's-throw 

 away; and soon, getting tired of this game of 

 hide-and-seek, in which the bird has all the fun 



