. Wild nature's ways . )ut my fmgers gentlybeneath her body. The skies had cleared, andhere was a chance of picture-making that raisedmy enthusiasm to boiling-point. Away I rushed,three long miles down the hills, for my cameraand plates. In due time I returned, hot andtired, but filled with a great hope. Throbbingwith excitement, I fixed up in front of the nest,but, alas ! just as my head was about to dis-appear beneath the focussing cloth, there was anominous whirr, and I w^as left to gaze broken-heartedly on four newly hatched chicks andthree chipped eggs. A few days after this tryingexperie
. Wild nature's ways . )ut my fmgers gentlybeneath her body. The skies had cleared, andhere was a chance of picture-making that raisedmy enthusiasm to boiling-point. Away I rushed,three long miles down the hills, for my cameraand plates. In due time I returned, hot andtired, but filled with a great hope. Throbbingwith excitement, I fixed up in front of the nest,but, alas ! just as my head was about to dis-appear beneath the focussing cloth, there was anominous whirr, and I w^as left to gaze broken-heartedly on four newly hatched chicks andthree chipped eggs. A few days after this tryingexperience my brother, who was working in BIRDS OF MOORLAND AXD LOCH. 97. YOUNG GROUSE IN HEATHER. Derbyshire at the time, sent me a print of thepicture reproduced on page 95. He had se-cured the photograph and I the danger threatens a family of young grousethe chicks scatter for safety in the heather. The Arctic skua, otherwise known as Richard-sons skua, although a bold pirate of the seas,resorts to moors in the Hebrides, Shetlands,Orkneys, and on some parts of the mainland ofScotland, to breed, and I have found its nest inclose proximity to those of the red grouse andgolden plover. It has been my good fortune to witness theinteresting tactics of this winged buccaneer whilstengaged in open robbery on several soon as he espies a number of smaller sea-gulls feastmg upon a shoal of surface-swimmingfish, he marks out a successful member of the H 98 WILD NATURES WAYS. party, and promptly gives unremitting chase. Itdoes not matter how the fugitive twists, doubles,or dives through the air, the robbers swifterwings always secure t
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