§2 BIRD LIFE ON ISLAND AND SHORE 
hour and a quarter before they were again covered 
by the suspicious bird. Observation of this nest 
too was relinquished, proximity to the road making 
it unlikely that we should succeed in obtaining 
the necessary seven or ten days’ quietude. 
A third nest was built on dry rush land, close 
to an extensive stretch of samphire. Within 
twenty yards of it was established another nest— 
that of a Harrier Hawk,—a fact inducing specula- 
tion as to whether, whilst the Bittern’s full clutch 
was still unlaid, the constant presence of one of 
its owners was required, or whether in the Hawk’s 
mind the eggs were tapu with something of the 
divinity that doth hedge a king; whether the 
magic of proximity may have cast a mantle of 
sanctity over the Bittern’s clutch. Had observa- 
tion of these two nests been possible from the 
beginning, the question might have been solved 
as to the degree a predaceous species, through 
trains of association, will respect the property of 
another breed, probably a dominant breed. Though 
never to my knowledge used except in defence, 
the bill of the Bittern must always appear a for- 
midable weapon; at any rate, I have seen it 
brandished with intimidating effects by a wounded 
bird. In the neighbourhood of this nest, well 
away from human traffic, we decided to erect a 
screen and to sap to within camera range. Whether 
we might or might not have been successful had 
