CHAP, iv.] FAMILIAR CAUTION. 283 



domesticated, but are of all birds perhaps amongst the 

 most untameable. They treat us in the same tantalising 

 way as the Swallow does the Hawk; they are continually 

 glancing within a few yards of us, but never come within 

 our actual reach. As we retire, they advance ; on our 

 advancing, they sound a retreat. They will measure 

 the nearness of the approach which they think prudent 

 to make toward us, exactly according to circumstances. 

 Does an afternoon cloud overshadow the landscape, out 

 come the Water Hens from their hiding-places in the 

 sedgy banks ; does the cloud send forth a pelting shower, 

 which drives the gardener and the labourer to seek a 

 temporary shelter, the Water Hens extend their range, 

 to retire again as soon as the squall is over, and out- 

 door work resumed. Before breakfast, while the family 

 are not yet down, they will flirt and play and feed under 

 the very living-room windows, but as soon as the faces 

 of their would-be friends are seen peeping thence at 

 their gambols, they keep their former cautious distance. 

 Should the household be unusually quiet from sickness, 

 death, misfortune, or an absence for change of scene, 

 the Water Hens know it, and presume upon their know- 

 ledge ; immediately that they perceive symptoms of re- 

 turning bustle and cheerfulness, they judge it time to 

 desist from their intrusive visits. Not that they are to 

 be frightened quite away by a good deal of noise and 

 disturbance, if there is but plenty of the food which 

 tempts them, and the cover which they delight in. The 

 din of a foundry has not prevented their occupancy of 

 a neighbouring pool : and if grass and tall weeds did 

 but grow, not in the streets but in the canals of Amster- 

 dam, there we believe, would Water Hens be playing 

 at hide-and-seek. In our own case, a large piece of 



