BIRDS'-NESTS. 131 



search of a trout lake, which lay far in 

 among the mountains, had twice lost our 

 course in the trackless forest, and, weary 

 and hungry, had sat down to rest upon a 

 decayed log. The chattering of the young, 

 and the passing to and fro of the parent 

 birds, soon arrested my attention. The en- 

 trance to the nest was on the east side of the 

 tree, about twenty-five feet from the ground. 

 At intervals of scarcely a minute, the old 

 birds, one after another, would alight upon 

 the edge of the hole with a grub or worm in 

 their beaks ; then each in turn would make 

 a bow or two, cast an eye quickly around, 

 and by a single movement place itself in the 

 neck of the passage. Here it would pause 

 a moment, as if to determine in which ex- 

 pectant mouth to place the morsel, and then 

 disappear within. In about half a minute, 

 during which time the chattering of the 

 young gradually subsided, the bird would 

 again emerge, but this time bearing in its 

 beak the ordure of one of the helpless fam- 

 ily. Flying away very slowly with head 

 lowered and extended, as if anxious to hold 

 the offensive object as far from its plumage 

 as possible, the bird dropped the unsavory 

 morsel in the course of a few yards, and, 



