142 THE MALE RUBY-THROAT. 
that they could be watched without fear of 
disturbing them. He remembers perfectly 
that the male fed the female during the en- 
tire period of incubation, “pumping the 
food down her throat.’ All this time, so 
far as could be discovered, the mother did 
not once leave the nest (an wonderful con- 
trast with my bird of a year ago), and of 
course the father was never seen to take her 
place. Mr. Darwin cannot say that the 
male ever fed the young ones, but is positive 
that he was frequently about the nest after 
they were hatched. While they were still 
too young to fly, a gardener, in pruning the 
tree, sawed off the limb on which the nest 
was built. Mr. Darwin’s mother rescued 
the little ones and fed them with sweetened 
water, and on her son’s return at night the 
branch was fixed in place again, as best it 
eould be, by means of wires. Meanwhile 
the old birds had disappeared, having given 
up their children for lost; and it was not 
until the third day that they came back, — 
by chance, perhaps, or out of affection for 
the spot. At once they resumed the care 
of their offspring, who by this time, it is 
safe to say, had become more or less surfeited 
