A WIDOW AND TWINS. 117 



in motion, as if she were swallowing. She 

 brooded for thirteen minutes, absented her- 

 self for three minutes, and spent six minutes 

 in her usual cautionary manoeuvres before 

 resuming her seat. For the long interval of 

 twenty -two minutes she sat still. Then she 

 vanished for four minutes, and on her re- 

 turn gave the young another luncheon, after 

 a fast of one hour and six minutes. 



The feeding process, which I had been so 

 desirous to see, was of a sort to make the 

 spectator shiver. The mother, standing on 

 the edge of the nest, with her tail braced 

 against its side, like a woodpecker or a 

 creeper, took a rigidly erect position, and 

 craned her neck until her bill was in a per- 

 pendicular line above the short, wide-open, 

 upraised beak of the little one, who, it must 

 be remembered, was at this time hardly big- 

 ger than a humble-bee. Then she thrust 

 her bill for its full length down into his 

 throat, a frightful-looking act, followed by 

 a series of murderous gesticulations, which 

 fairly made one observer's blood run cold. 



On the day after this (on the 2d of July, 

 that is to say) I climbed into the tree, in 

 the old bird's absence, and stationed myself 



