94 LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD. 



take away the mother, how the little ones would 

 grieve, and wonder what had become of her, 

 and at last die for want of food ; and she, poor 

 thing, would be shut up all the time in my 

 painted cage, and every time she sang I should 

 think she was mourning for her young ones, 

 and begging me to let her go to them. 



<ftunt M. She would, indeed, have mourned 

 sadly, pecked at her prison bars, fluttered her 

 wings, and struggled to get out. And she would 

 not only have grieved for the little ones she 

 loved, but for the freedom she had always be- 

 fore enjoyed, and perhaps wondered what 

 dreadful monster had deprived her of it. How 

 she had rejoiced in the free use of her wings, 

 flying through the air for miles together; how 

 she had sat in the trees, and sung in the fulness 

 of her joy, or chattered merrily with her com- 

 panions ; how she and her beloved mate had 

 twittered over the straws, as they wove their 

 nest; how carefully she had tended the dear 

 little ones, searched for food for them, and 

 taught them to fly and what is her situation 

 now ? Deprived of all these sweet pleasures, 

 fed upon unnatural food, and confined in a 



