I04 NATUKE STUDY. 



for herself and brood over those eggs, to say nothing of 

 feeding and caring for the hungry nestlings ? 



But let me say right here, that that was another case of 

 counting the chickens before they were hatched. Perhaps 

 you think I might end this tale by telling that none of 

 those eggs were ever hatched, but I also wish to state 

 what proved to be, to me, the most interesting feature of 

 this case. As I told you before, this drenching downpour 

 of rain, accompanied by heavy, northeast gales, lasted sev- 

 eral days, and all one day I could scarcely make out 

 through the rain, that patient, water-soaked mother sway- 

 ing in the wind upon that nest. I tried to tempt her off, 

 by throwing bread-crumbs and a luscious strawberry or two 

 from the window, but I never saw her leave the nest, al- 

 though I watched until dusk, and the food only served to 

 fill and encourage a horde of Knglish sparrows, who, think- 

 ing it a sort of continuous performance, lined up on the 

 wires in front of the windows, awaiting my next appear- 

 ance. 



When the rain finally ceased, I tempted her to the lawn 

 to pick up the food I threw, and sometimes, for short inter- 

 vals, she would venture a little farther up the road, to 

 get a good, fat. juicy earth worm perhaps, but only for a 

 very brief respite, and back she would be upon the nest. 

 From time to time she would change the position of the 

 eggs, and also take a different posture herself. 



One morning, upon awakening, I looked on the nest, as 

 had now become so habitual, and could 1 believe mj' eyes ? 

 There was another robin, with a long worm in its bill, be- 

 side that nest. Had I after all been so much mistaken 

 and had the parent been near by all the time ? But no, 

 upon a closer inspection, I saw from the coloring that this 

 was another female robin. 



My bird, as I will now call her, gratefully swallowed the 

 worm and the other bird flew away up the street. Several 



