THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING. 341 



progress of their nesting. I shall transcribe a few 

 sentences from Mr. Burroughs's paper: 



"The tender households of the birds are not only exposed 

 to hostile Indians in the shape of cats and collectors, but to 

 numerous murderous and bloodthirsty animals, against whom 

 they have no defense but concealment. They lead the darkest 

 kind of pioneer life, even in our gardens and orchards, and 

 under the walls of our houses. Not a day or a night passes, 

 from the time the eggs are laid till the young are flown, when 

 the chances are not greatly in favor of the nest being rifled 

 and its contents devoured by owls, skunks, minks, and 'coons 

 at night, and by crows, jays, squirrels, weasels, snakes, and 

 rats during the day. Infancy, we say, is hedged about by 

 many perils; but the infancy of birds is cradled and pillowed 

 in peril." 



He tells also of the frequent rifling of orioles' and 

 other birds' nests, of the occasional death of both the 

 old and young birds by accidental causes (such as en- 

 tanglement in the hairs of their nests), and of the 

 maraudings of their many destroyers. 



His paper has recalled a few instances of tragedy 

 in bird life that have come under my own observation. 



One day, while clearing out a thicket, so that the 

 larger trees would have more light and space, and could 

 grow better, we cut down a maple sapling, and, as it 

 fell, two eggs splashed out on the ground beside us. 

 We found that we had unwittingly, but none the less 

 absolutely, destroyed a little bird's nest which had been 

 concealed among the thick foliage. We had not seen 

 it, although we had noticed a bird or two around there; 

 but there it was, all torn and bedraggled, and frag- 

 ments of the speckled egg-shells lay scattered about it. 



