MATERNAL ANXIETIES. 351 



to which the parents are at this time exposed, and 

 their labours to feed their young, is recorded by 

 Mr. Knapp. He says : " I was lately exceed- 

 ingly pleased in witnessing the maternal care and 

 intelligence of the blue titmouse; for the poor 

 thing had its young ones in the hole of a wall, 

 and the nest had been nearly all drawn out of the 

 crevice by the paw of a cat, and part of its brood 

 devoured. In revisiting its family, the bird dis- 

 covered a portion of it remaining, though wrapped 

 up and hidden in the tangled moss and heathers 

 of their bed, and it then drew the whole of the 

 nest back into the place from whence it had been 

 taken, unrolled and resettled the remaining little 

 ones, fed them with the usual attentions, and 

 finally succeeded in rearing them. The parents 

 of even this reduced family laboured with great 

 perseverance to supply its wants, one or the other 

 of them bringing a grub, caterpillar, or some 

 insect, at intervals of less than a minute through 

 the day, and probably in the earlier part of the 

 morning more frequently. But if we allow that 

 they brought food to the hole every minute for 

 fourteen hours, and provided for their own w r ants 

 also, it will admit of perhaps a thousand grubs 



