. Wild nature's ways . ii8 UIIJ) NATURES WAYS. proved conclu-sively that thebirds had suf-fered some loss,and that theyonly had twoinstead of fourchic ks—theusual numberreared by thespecies. The red-necked phala-rope is one ofour rarest,tamest, andmost elegantsummer visit-ors. It stillbreeds—or, to put it more accurately, attempts todo so—in one or two old haunts in the Hebrides,and elsewhere. I have spent a good deal of well-repaid timein studying its engaging and confidential ways,and can unhesitatingly assert that there is nospecies capable of affording the student of birdhabits more unallo
. Wild nature's ways . ii8 UIIJ) NATURES WAYS. proved conclu-sively that thebirds had suf-fered some loss,and that theyonly had twoinstead of fourchic ks—theusual numberreared by thespecies. The red-necked phala-rope is one ofour rarest,tamest, andmost elegantsummer visit-ors. It stillbreeds—or, to put it more accurately, attempts todo so—in one or two old haunts in the Hebrides,and elsewhere. I have spent a good deal of well-repaid timein studying its engaging and confidential ways,and can unhesitatingly assert that there is nospecies capable of affording the student of birdhabits more unalloyed pleasure. Last summer Iwaded knee-deep in the silting-up bay of a lochfor seven hours on end, studying and photo-. BOYS DRIVING PHALAROPE. BIRDS OF MOORLAND AND LOCH. 119 graphing the members of a small colony^ consist-ing of three or four pairs. The different couplesappeared to have their own favourite pools andshallows, which they diligently hunted morning,noon, and night for food. They swam along veryhurriedly, looking from side to side in bus}^,eager haste, pecking here and there as if therewas not a moment to be lost and the welfare ofthe whole universe depended upon their obtained a beautiful series of photographsof both males and females by focussing someparticular part of the surface of a favourite pool,and then standing on one side with my pneumatictube and waiting until a bird swam across day, a coupleof schoolboys volun-teered to help me,by driving the pha-laropes within myfield of focus, andby this novel sport-ing method enabledme to expose severalplates. On the follow-ing day I was allalone, and the birdsseemed to have beenso used to my ap-paratus, that by dint KALE
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