Wild nature's ways

Description:

Identifier: wildnaturesways00kear (find matches)
Title: Wild nature's ways
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Kearton, Richard, 1862-1928
Subjects: Birds Insects Natural history
Publisher: London, Paris, New York Melbourne, Cassell and company, limited
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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arge rhubarb leaf, suspended it like a curtain infront of the nest, and stood on one side to seewhat would happen. In a minute or two backcame the uneasy little bird, full of maternalanxiety to resume her duties. She eyed theobstruction over critically, and hesitated, but herindecision lasted only for a moment, and, creepingbehind the rhubarb leaf, she sat down and en-joyed its shelter with an air of great satisfaction. A stones throw from the garden a girl, seekinglay-away hens eggs, found a corncrakes nest ina bunch of nettles growing close to an old drywall, one Saturday afternoon, and I had it shownto me the following morning. The dear old soul who took me to see it didnot recognise the enormity of her offence againstProvidence until some mischievous member of anumerous family of Skye terriers brought a deadcorncrake home. This was at once interpretedas a judgment for showing me the birds neston the Sabbath. I pointed out that the faithwithin me was far too small to believe in the
Text Appearing After Image:
s^ CORNCRAKE ON NEST. BIRDS OF MOORLAND AND LOCH. 109 righteousness of punishing the innocent to the pointof annihilation^ and ahowing the guilty to go free,and straightway went to discover the bird seatedon her eggs, well and happy. After a good deal of trouble in hiding thecamera, I succeeded in figuring her at home. A curious thing about a brooding corncrakeis that when covering her ten or eleven largeeggs, she almost assumes the dimensions of acommon partridge, but directly she rises to herfeet, which she does with a peculiar kind ofquiet grace difficult to describe, she shuts uplike a book, and slips away with the noiselessstealth of a shadow into the surrounding herbage. This species is very numerous in some partsof the Hebrides. One day a crofters boy andI found four nests, and on another two, and ineach instance they were not fifty yards awayfrom the swampy shores of a loch. I havenoticed that in large clutches of ten or eleven,one egg is frequently much hghter in groundcolour

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