BIRDS'-NESTS 101 



been displayed by the original parent. When dan- 

 ger was nigh he was seen afar off, sailing around in 

 placid unconcern. 



It is generally known that when either the wild 

 turkey or domestic turkey begins to lay, and after- 

 wards to sit and rear the brood, she secludes herself 

 from the male, who then, very sensibly, herds with 

 others of his sex, and betakes himself to haunts of 

 his own till male and female, old and young, meet 

 again on common ground, late in the fall. But rob 

 the sitting bird of her eggs, or destroy her tender 

 young, and she immediately sets out in quest of a 

 male, who is no laggard when he hears her call. 

 The same is true of ducks and other aquatic fowls. 

 The propagating instinct is strong, and surmounts 

 all ordinary difficulties. No doubt the widowhood 

 I had caused in the case of the woodpeckers was of 

 short duration, and chance brought, or the widow 

 drummed up, some forlorn male, who was not dis- 

 mayed by the prospect of having a large family of 

 half-grown birds on his hands at the outset. 



I have seen a fine cock robin paying assiduous 

 addresses to a female bird as late as the middle of 

 July; and I have no doubt that his intentions were 

 honorable. I watched the pair for half an hour. 

 The hen, I took it, was in the market for the second 

 time that season; but the cock, from his bright, 

 unfaded plumage, looked like a new arrival. The 

 hen resented every advance of the male. In vain 

 he strutted around her and displayed his fine fea- 

 thers; every now and then she would make at him 



