FOSTER PARENTS. 357 



a little to soften them, and with all the gentleness 

 and delicacy imaginable, put them separately into 

 the cow-bunting's mouth. This careful nurse 

 often spent several minutes in looking at and 

 examining its charge all over, and in picking 

 off any particles of dirt that could be observed 

 upon its plumage. In teaching and encouraging 

 it to eat of itself, the red-bird 



" Tried each art, reproved each dull delay :" 

 and exhibited a degree of tenderness and care 

 which formed a beautiful instance of attachment 

 to a helpless object out of simple benevolence, 

 if we may apply that term to a bird. 



The enormous appetites of some of these foster- 

 children cannot but render it a hard task for their 

 foster-parents to supply them with sufficient food. 

 Doubtless, were more than one cuckoo's egg 

 dropped into the hedge-sparrow's nest, in our 

 country the bird would be wholly unable to 

 meet the wants of the intruders. But He, who 

 ordered all things in nature with a view to the 

 capabilities of his creatures, never intended that 

 the poor bird should have the double sorrow 

 of losing her own progeny and wearing out her 

 strength in excessive exertions to supply the 



