80 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 
The two birds he attended to went and came, 
sometimes together, then first one, and then the 
other, and sometimes one would remain at the 
nest during the absence of its mate. This went 
on for about three hours, and nothing unusual 
happened at the nest; at other points of the 
rookery there were little storms of noise and 
some shindies, but he was determined not to let 
his attention wander from his two birds. At 
length he was rewarded by seeing one of the pair 
fly to an unguarded nest about thirty yards away, 
on a neighbouring tree, and deliberately pull out 
a stick, which it brought back and carefully 
adjusted in its own nest. By and by the two 
birds who had been robbed returned together and 
immediately appeared to be aware that something 
was wrong with their home. Standing on the nest, 
they put their heads together, fluttering their 
wings and cawing excitedly, and presently they 
were joined by others, and others still, until almost 
the entire colony was congregated on the tree, all 
making a great noise. After two or three minutes 
they began to quarrel among themselves, and there 
were angry blows with beaks and wings, after 
which the tumult subsided, and the company broke 
up, every pair going back to its own nest. After 
that comparative peace and quiet continued for 
some time, but Mr. Redburn now noticed that one 
bird always remained on guard on the nest where 
the stick had been stolen. His two birds quietly 
continued to work and go and come, and by and 
