. Wild nature's ways . irection. In spite of their long abandonment on theprevious day the eggs took no harm, and astrong, healthy chick ultimately emerged fromeach one of them. Whilst studying Nature witli eye and ear 32 WILD NATURES WAYS. HIDING TENT LUVtRED WiTH HEATHER. alert for every sight and sound, there is for mea splendid charm about what many people wouldcall the solitary places of the earth. One day,when wandering by a babbling heather-fringedmountain beckside, my attention was suddenlyarrested by a familiar kek, kek, kcking note over-head, and, looking up, I beheld a bold littleme
. Wild nature's ways . irection. In spite of their long abandonment on theprevious day the eggs took no harm, and astrong, healthy chick ultimately emerged fromeach one of them. Whilst studying Nature witli eye and ear 32 WILD NATURES WAYS. HIDING TENT LUVtRED WiTH HEATHER. alert for every sight and sound, there is for mea splendid charm about what many people wouldcall the solitary places of the earth. One day,when wandering by a babbling heather-fringedmountain beckside, my attention was suddenlyarrested by a familiar kek, kek, kcking note over-head, and, looking up, I beheld a bold littlemerlin flying across the ghyll with business-likedirectness. I watched him go down into somedeep heather, and making careful mental notesof the landmarks lying between us, walked straighttowards the place. He rose when I arrivedwithin forty yards of the spot where he alighted,but, taking no notice of him, I pursued mycourse until his mate darted out of the heatherclose to my feet, and revealed the whereaboutsof her MERLIN ON NEST 34 WILD NATURES WAYS. Early the following morning T erected mylittle hiding tent—which consists of eight ironlegs a quarter of an inch in diameter, six feetin length, eyeleted at the top to a small ring,and covered with a skirt-shaped hght canvas—within a dozen feet of the nest, and thatched itwith heather, as shown in the picture on p. completing this deceitful structure I wentaway and concealed myself in a forest of tallbracken growing on a view commanding the hill-side about a quarter of a mile distant. In a veryfew minutes I had the great satisfaction of seeingthe mountain falcon, or blue hawk, as the bird iscalled in some districts, alight on the top of myhandiwork, and after surveying things a little whilefrom its elevation, go straight down on to her eggs. During the afternoon I fell in with a friendlyshepherd, who kindly tucked me up inside myhide-all, and went his way. In about ten minutesfrom the time of the mans departure I
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