THE WILD MOTHER 225 



hovers over Jerusalem as little mother birds hover 

 over their nests. 



Hovering He will deliver it, 

 And passing back and forth 

 He will preserve it. 1 



The bird mother is the bravest, tenderest, most 

 solicitous, most appealing thing one ever comes 

 upon in the fields ; the problem of her presence 

 or absence, the degree or intensity of her being, 

 and her behavior under stress, add more than 

 anything else to the interest and charm of bird- 

 study. It is the rare exception, but we sometimes 

 find the mother-instinct wholly lacking among 

 the birds, as in the case of our notorious cowbird, 

 who sneaks about, watching her chance when 

 some smaller bird is gone, to drop her egg into 

 its nest. The egg must be laid; the burden of the 

 race has been put upon the cowbird, but not 

 the precious burden of the child. Hers are only 

 the functions of maternity. She is not a mother. 

 She is body only, not a soul. 



The same is true of the European cuckoo, but 

 not quite true of our American cuckoos, in spite 

 of popular belief. For our birds (both species) 

 build rude, elementary nests as a rule, and brood 



1 Author's translation from the Hebrew, Isa., chap. xxxi. 



