THE WARBLER FAMILY 121 



had befallen her. It did not take her long to 

 discover that she had failed in her ruse— that ruse, 

 time-honoured, yet always new in its pathetic 

 simplicity — and she tried new tactics ; but these 

 also failed owing to the youngster not being 

 sufficiently developed. She tried calling him 

 away from my hand, as though she were going to 

 feed him, but the little fellow was not yet strong 

 enough to balance himself on my finger, let alone 

 fly to her. To ease her mind, I placed him back 

 in his nest, that the family had already almost out- 

 grown, and as I did so, I wondered whether by 

 chance the egg I had held in my hand was the one 

 from which this bird had come. 



He seemed well satisfied to be with his brothers 

 and sisters, and soon nestled himself amongst them, 

 forming his part of the heaving mass of down and 

 feathers. 



The next time I visited the nest the warblers made 

 no objection, and I imagined they recognised me and 

 realised that I meant no harm either to themselves 

 or to their young, for these had hatched out since my 

 first visit. Day by day I came to watch the little 

 fellows, and they grew rapidly, as all young birds 

 do. Finally, they were ready to make their first 

 venture into the great world that, should no 

 accident befall them, was to be their feeding- 

 ground for many years to come. 



As I looked into the nest the family of fledgelings 

 scrambled out as though they had been scattered 

 by some invisible hand, so nearly simultaneous was 

 their action, and in less time than it takes to tell 

 it each little mite of down and rust-coloured feathers 



