. Birds of the water, wood & waste . he began to feel the heat verymuch, and moved about the nest, seekingfor the least particle of shade. About noonI saw the parent birds in the distance, andheard them alight on a tall dead tree somesbity or eighty yards away. It was not, however, until long past sixin the evening that either of the oldpigeons began to approach the nest. It was then too late for photography,and partly because I wanted the youngbird and partly because I thought it justpossible it had been deserted, I decided tocarry Kuku home. I had, moreover, the less hesitation intaking him,
. Birds of the water, wood & waste . he began to feel the heat verymuch, and moved about the nest, seekingfor the least particle of shade. About noonI saw the parent birds in the distance, andheard them alight on a tall dead tree somesbity or eighty yards away. It was not, however, until long past sixin the evening that either of the oldpigeons began to approach the nest. It was then too late for photography,and partly because I wanted the youngbird and partly because I thought it justpossible it had been deserted, I decided tocarry Kuku home. I had, moreover, the less hesitation intaking him, as there was a second stringto my bow in the nestling on the Racecoursecliffs. In regard to desertion, later in theyear, and with a larger knowledge ofpigeon nature, I found that I had certainlybeen quite mistaken, and that the old birdswere merely keeping away because slightlysuspicious, and well aware that theirnestling would be none the worse for atwelve hours fast. Through that long dayindeed the nestling never seemed to me to. WOOD AND WASTE 169 evince any signs of hunger. He neverwhined or piped or looked about him withany particular interest. On the contrary,the dog it was that died; it was I whowas starving, for my lunch was in mysaddle bag, and I could never, of course,venture out for it. As, however, hour afterhour passed with my thoughts fixed on thejoys of witnessing the pigeon feeding itsyoung, I began to think about feedingmyself, and the poor innocent bird on itsnest began to have a ludicrous resemblanceto quail on toast. By , when I left thecliff, ample as were the proportions of thequail, and huge as was the piece of toast,I could have easily disposed of both. Irode home that night wondering if it wassuspicion of the shining lens—the screenhad been up three days—that had kept theold birds off, whether they fed the nestlingonly at dawn and very late, or whether intruth the nest had been deserted. Allusion has been made to the discomfortsuffered by the y
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1910
