94 BIRD LIFE IN A WESTERN VALLEY 



Thenceforth, many of my daily rambles led 

 to the gorge, and generally, either before noon 

 or towards dusk, I spent an hour or two not far 

 from the dam. The hen sat closely on her eggs, 

 and I seldom saw her except when the morning 

 sun shone brightly on the nest, and she came out 

 to stretch her wings ; while the cock, proud of 

 the satisfactory progress of events, made his 

 periodical visit to gloat over the treasures which, 

 doubtless, he felt belonged as much to him as to 

 his hard-sitting spouse. When the hen was 

 brooding, the cock, however, was by no means 

 idle. He tended his mate untiringly, brought 

 her the choicest caddises and worms to be found 

 by the dam, and worked and fussed as if the 

 patient partner of his summer joys took quite 

 an unimportant part in household duties. 



In time the eggs were hatched, and during the 

 first days after the event, while the young 

 birds' appetites were quickly appeased, both 

 parents enjoyed brief periods of relaxation, and 

 were often seen far down-stream by the cascades 

 or up-stream beyond the distant mouth of the 

 gorge ; and once or twice the cock was heard to 

 sing the cheery carol he had practised weeks 

 before on the pebbles in the shallows beside the 

 dark-green firs, while the daffodils were opening 

 and the wood-mouse ventured forth to seek his 

 timid lady-love. The cock soon found his share 



