If you stand near the nest of a bird that has young,
she will not be induced to betray them by an inadvertent fondness,
but will wait about at a distance with meat in her mouth for an
hour together.
Should I farther corroborate what I have advanced above by some
anecdotes which I probably may have mentioned before in
conversation, yet you will, I trust, pardon the repetition for the sake
of illustration.
The fly-catcher of the Zoology (the stoparola of Ray), builds every
year in the vines that grow on the walls of my house. A pair of
these little birds had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a
naked bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the
inconvenience that followed. But an hot sunny season coming on
before the brood was half fledged, the reflection of the wall
became insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the
tender young, had not affection suggested an expedient, and
prompted the parent-birds to hover over the nest all the hotter
hours, while with wings expanded, and mouths gaping for breath,
they screened off the heat from their suffering offspring.
Pages:
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243