UNTIMELY DEATH. 341 



nestling is smothered by the others overlying it. 

 All these are perils to which the nestling is more 

 peculiarly exposed at the time of its first exclusion 

 than subsequently. " The country dame," says 

 Reaumur, alluding to the accidental death of the 

 young chickens from accidental causes, " is very 

 well pleased when her brood-hen, which had fifteen 

 eggs given her, is followed by a train of eight or 

 nine chickens after she has left the nest." Some- 

 times, as already noticed, the death is caused 

 either by the bad propensities or by the impatience 

 of the parent. 



There is this diiference between domestic birds 

 and small birds generally under such circum- 

 stances. The latter, strongly acting under the 

 instinct of cleanliness, and with a view to the well- 

 being of the rest of their family, invariably remove 

 the dead birds, and convey them to a distance 

 from the nest. This is an action of which the 

 common fowl, which is far less scrupulous as to 

 the order or cleanliness of its nest than are the 

 smaller birds, is said to be incapable. 



It is a mistake to suppose that birds produce 

 only one brood in the year. A number of the 

 smaller birds produce two or three different sets 



