692 
BIRD-LIFE. 
the scene with food: it had never hitherto been my good 
fortune, even from the closest hiding-place, to see this 
charming bird so near to me as on this occasion. Both 
parents, though usually so shy, seemed to lose all sense 
of danger: on either side sat the male and female at the 
distance of hardly fifteen paces ; the latter flew anxiously 
from rock to rock, while the former remained perched on 
one spot, hut sang—poor little thing !—as though begging 
me to take my departure, tripped backwards and forwards, 
danced, and then sang again. The scene was truly 
touching: on the one side the female getting more and 
more anxious every moment, while on the other sat the 
male, who, in his trouble, scarce knew what to do to be 
rid of the dangerous enemy. Shall I kill you, poor little 
creature? No, never! “Wait a moment while I leave 
you room to go to your offspring; after I am gone, there 
is little fear that anyone else will ever disturb you.” So 
said I to myself, and then departed; a bright song of 
thanksgiving fell upon my ear: this, thought I, is my 
reward. 
I then dreamt to myself again, further out into the 
future. I pictured, in my imagination, the parents 
taking their newly-fledged brood for their first flight, all 
safe and sound: father and mother flying before the 
joyous band, from stone to stone and rock to rock. They 
scarcely require to be shown their domain, for the little 
short-tailed scamps seem perfectly at home from the 
very beginning. The parents need only utter one warn¬ 
ing cry and in an instant the whole family have vanished 
amongst the crevices of the rocks or under the boulders; 
a moment after, however, on the parents uttering a 
different note, they are again assembled on the highest 
points and corners of the surrounding stones: the 
