60 About the Feathered Folk. 



in a slight depression in the rock, 

 and over them the mother bird 

 broods until they are hatched. 

 Should she be disturbed during this 

 time, she will shuffle away, the 

 precious eggs smuggled off between 

 her thighs. She never leaves them 

 even for a moment. The male bird 

 goes to sea to fish for food for her. 

 He feeds her with the most affec- 

 tionate care, and with such assiduity, 

 that she becomes enormously fat : 

 she has, you see, so little exercise, 

 and nothing in the world to do but 

 to sit still, to eat the fish brought to 

 her, and to coddle those two smooth, 

 exquisite eggs. 



But once the young birds are 

 hatched it is a very different affair. 



Both parents have to go out fish- 

 ing then, for the babies have un- 

 quenchable appetites, and, slave as 

 they may, there are always two 

 wide-gaping mouths eager for food 

 until both father and mother grow 



