2o8 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



empty in the interval. But if the suppression, in 

 the male bird, of these two activities — of nest- 

 building and incubation — are related, by a parity 

 of reasoning one would suppose that he would 

 take no part in the feeding of the young. This, 

 however, with the blackbird, is by no means the 

 case, for the cock is as active, here, and interested 

 as the hen — or nearly so. At least he recognises a 

 duty, and performs it to the best of his ability. It 

 is the same with the wagtail, and, no doubt, with 

 numbers of other birds — a fact which seems to 

 suggest that the instinct of incubation, and that 

 of parental love, are differentiated, the second not 

 making its appearance till after the eggs are hatched. 

 This, at first sight, seems likely, and then — if one 

 considers it a little — unlikely, or, perhaps, im- 

 possible. It is from birth that the maternal love, 

 the a-Topyr'}^ dates, and birth, here, is represented by 

 the egg. True, there is a second birth when the 

 egg is hatched, which makes it possible that the 

 true crropyy'i has waited for this. Yet the mother 

 continues to brood upon the young in the same way 

 that she has been doing on her eggs, and, except for 

 the feeding, which does not commence immediately, 

 the whole pretty picture looks so much the same 

 that it is difficult to think a new element has been 

 projected into it. No one, whilst the young are 

 still tiny, could tell whether they or the eggs were 

 being brooded over by the parent bird. An interest- 

 ing point occurs here. When incubation is shared 

 by the two sexes, the hatching of the eggs must 

 frequently, one would think, take place whilst the 

 male bird is sitting. What, then, are his feelings 



