343 THE LIFE OF A BIRD. 



four half-fledged nestlings, which the hen was 

 feeding while a party was watching the proceeding, 

 the male bird contenting himself with looking on 

 from the outside. There could not be the least 

 doubt that each successive nest and brood were 

 produced by the same pair, since the identity of 

 the hen bird was fully established by the fact of 

 her having by some accident lost her tail, which of 

 course rendered her extremely conspicuous, and 

 readily recognisable." 



It is now time for us to conduct the reader to 

 a more minute account of the little being on which 

 our attention is concentrated the bird in its 

 nestling state : we shall therefore proceed in the 

 next chapter to speak in detail of its education 

 and final history. 



