. Wild nature's ways . inutes the female ring ouzel arrivedwith a splendid array of wrigghng worms in herbill. Her astonishment was unmistakable. Shecocked her head on one side, stared intently intothe declivity recently occupied by her nest andchicks for some moments in silence, and then,uttering a distressed cry, dropped her food, andflew to the top of my stone wall, where she satlistening and looking—a veritable picture ofmaternal misery. Her huddled form and dolefullooks made me, I must confess, feel something ofa barbarian, and I was seized with a great impulseto replace the nest straight
. Wild nature's ways . inutes the female ring ouzel arrivedwith a splendid array of wrigghng worms in herbill. Her astonishment was unmistakable. Shecocked her head on one side, stared intently intothe declivity recently occupied by her nest andchicks for some moments in silence, and then,uttering a distressed cry, dropped her food, andflew to the top of my stone wall, where she satlistening and looking—a veritable picture ofmaternal misery. Her huddled form and dolefullooks made me, I must confess, feel something ofa barbarian, and I was seized with a great impulseto replace the nest straightway. I think I shouldhave done so, had not the male bird arrived uponthe scene with a supply of greenish-brown grubs,and engaged my attention in his behaviour. Healso showed considerable surprise at the absenceof his callow brood, but did not allow distress tointerfere with appetite for swallowing the grubs ;he flew away, and did not reappear during theremainder of the time I spent at the place. 58 WILD NATURES EGGS OF ENGLISH AND FRENCHPARTRIDGES IN THE SAME NEST. After thinking the matter over maturely onthe top of the stone wall, the mother-bird flewdown to re-examine the site of her departed joys,and whilst hopping round, discovered her nestin its new situation. I naturally thought thatdistress would now give place to rejoicing, but itdid nothing of the kind. Instead of sitting downand brooding her chicks, she stood on the edgeof the nest, and, to my bewilderment, began topull the lining out in great billfuls, and in a fitof uncontrollable anger scatter it to the groundbelow. How I sighed for my camera and agleam of sunshine whilst this was going on ! Desiring to give the American naturalistsexperiments a fair trial, I stayed for nearly three CURIOSITIES OF WILD LIFE. 59 hours with the ring ouzels, and as the weatherwas dull and cold, I was compelled to keep thechicks alive by warming them, three at one timeand two at another, against my own body. Atlast, when it b
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