. Wild nature's ways . she waspathetically sitting on an absolutely empty or somebody had robbed her of herfive beautiful turquoise blue eggs, and thinkingthat I might save her time and an amount of BIRDS OF WOODLAND AND HEDGEROW. 169 heart-searching, I ran over to a chaffinchs nestnot far away, and borrowed two eggs, but althoughI waited a goodly while in hiding, she never re-turned, and I had to replace them in the nestof their rightful owner. One day, whilst making some ornithologicalinvestigations in a small birch and hazel wood, Iaccidentally found a garden warblers nest in
. Wild nature's ways . she waspathetically sitting on an absolutely empty or somebody had robbed her of herfive beautiful turquoise blue eggs, and thinkingthat I might save her time and an amount of BIRDS OF WOODLAND AND HEDGEROW. 169 heart-searching, I ran over to a chaffinchs nestnot far away, and borrowed two eggs, but althoughI waited a goodly while in hiding, she never re-turned, and I had to replace them in the nestof their rightful owner. One day, whilst making some ornithologicalinvestigations in a small birch and hazel wood, Iaccidentally found a garden warblers nest in alow whitethorn bush. The female owner convinced me that birds donot always sing from pleasure, for again andagain when I approached with the camera, in-tending to figure her on the nest, she quietlyslipped off, and commenced to imitate her matessong, but in a weak, creaky kind of voice, notat all approaching his fine mellow notes, whichwere being poured forth at the same time in adifferent part ol the little HEDGE-SPARROW ATTENDING TO HER YOJNG. 170 WILD NATURES WAYS. The building of a birch and hazel screenbehind which to hide the camera enabled mefinally to overcome the birds suspicions, andsecure an exposure just before the breaking of aheavy thunderstorm. I have been singularly unlucky during thelast two breeding seasons in my efforts to photo-graph a male red-backed shrike or butcher birdin the act of feeding his offspring. In July of last year I found a nest in a thin,straggling hedge, containing such a well-featheredbrood of young ones that I deemed it expedient,on two heads, to sit up all night. The advancedstage of development reached by the chicks madeit plain that there was not a moment to be lost,and feeding at dawn is generally fast and furious,and consequently fuller of chances than laterperiods of the day. I was too late, however, fordirectly I fixed up my paraphernalia the pertlittle shrikes left their old home one by one, inresponse to the earnest i
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