THE BIRD STUDY BOOK 

 old birds as they settled on their nests, and the shrill 

 cries of the little ones, as on unsteady legs they 

 reached upward for their food. 



Keen indeed was the disappointment that awaited 

 me. With great care we approached the spot and 

 with caution worked our way to the very edge of 

 the pond. For many minutes we waited, but no life 

 was visible about the buttonwood bushes which held 

 the nests — no old birds like fragments of fleecy 

 clouds came floating in over the dark canopy of 

 cypress trees. My companion, wise in the ways of 

 hunters, as well as the habits of birds, suspected 

 something wrong and presently found nearby the 

 body of an Egret lying on the ground, its back, from 

 which the skin bearing the fatal aigrettes had been 

 torn, raw and bloody. A little farther along we 

 came to the remains of a second and then a third, 

 and still farther on, a fourth. As we approached, we 

 were warned of the proximity of each ghastly spec- 

 tacle by the hideous buzzing of green flies swarming 

 over the lifeless forms of the parent birds. 

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