128 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



almost to destroy the nest ; in consequence of which 

 the eggs were precipitated to the ground. They lay 

 there till observed by the lady shortly afterwards, 

 who was attracted to the spot by the plaintive cries 

 of the parent bird. It was at first thought that to 

 restore them to the nest would prove useless. The 

 attempt, however, was made ; the eggs, which were 

 nearly cold, were picked up, and placed back again 

 in the nest, after it had been repaired and put toge- 

 ther again as well as was possible. They had not been 

 returned to their former situation five minutes, when 

 the bird came, and again took charge of them, and 

 in two days they were hatched; the infant brood 

 being from that time, of course, objects of daily 

 interest and observation. Great was the dismay of 

 the lady, some days afterwards, at finding all the 

 little ones upon the ground, stiff and cold, having 

 fallen through a fracture in the patched nest, which 

 was not sufficiently strong to keep together. She 

 took them up, and perceiving a slight movement in 

 one of them, carried them into the house, where, 

 partly by the warmth of the hand, and partly by 

 the influence of a fire to which they were held, they 

 all gradually recovered. They were then again 

 placed in the nest, which was further patched with 

 a piece of drugget, fastened into the fracture through 

 which they had fallen. They were doomed, however, 

 to go through more trials; for it happened, some 

 nights after, there was a heavy rain, which so com- 

 pletely soaked the nest, and the drugget which had 

 been placed in it as a lining, that the young ones 

 were found the following morning almost drowned, 



