1 76 Bog-Trotting for OrcKids 



touch of the mother, I had a chance of observing her 

 carefull3\ She had no shelter or protection but a leaf 

 of the False Lily-of- the- Valley (yUnifoIium Canadense) 

 which covered her ej^es and part of her head. She 

 never stirred a feather nor blinked either of her round 

 brown ej^es. Close to the earth like the leaves them- 

 selves, pressed down with winter snows, it was diflScult 

 to distinguish her feathers from them. I finally fright- 

 ened her from the spot. The poor little birds heard 

 their mother's cry of alarm, and, babes as they were, 

 instinctively understood it all, opening their dreamy 

 sad eyes, and tr>-ing to hide away. Nest they had 

 none, and rolled about over the leaves. I visited these 

 birdlings so often, in my eagerness to make observa- 

 tions, that the mother finally left her young. One 

 cold night, finding them almost freezing and starving, 

 I took them home. They did not liv^e more than a 

 week, however, on account of ni}- ignorance as to what 

 food to give them. During this time they became very 

 tame and dependent upon my care, rejoicing strangely 

 when I came near. 



The Southern Chuck- Will' s-Widow, a species closely 

 allied to our Whippoorwill, builds no nest, but is said 

 to move her eggs and 3^oung, in her large mouth, from 

 place to place, wherever she may choose to abide. It 

 would be well if Nature had thus taught our Northern 

 Whippoorwills. 



I continued to visit the Bogs of Etchowog, collect- 

 ing azalea, iris, and the other flowers in their turn. 

 In circling the Pownal Pond one day, I ran upon a 



