Trouble Among the Birds 157 



There is tragedy as well as comedy in the world 

 of feathers. Ernest Thompson Seton's graphic animal 

 stories would leave a pleasanter taste in the mouth if 

 they ended less tragically, but they would not be so true 

 to life as.it is in the faunal realm. It must be true that 

 the lives of most birds and animals end in tragedy, so 

 numerous, alert, and persistent are their foes. As soon 

 as a bird begins to grow old and infirm, losing its keen- 

 ness of vision and its swiftness of movement, it cannot 

 help falling a prey to its rapacious enemies. For this 

 reason you seldom find a feeble animal or bird in the open, 

 or one that has lain down and died a natural death. 



However, strange as it may seem, I have found the 

 corpses of several birds in the wild outdoors. At an 

 abandoned limestone quarry one spring I discovered the 

 nest of a pair of phcebes. I called at the pretty domicile 

 a number of times in my rambles. It was set on a shelf 

 of one stratum of rock, and roofed over by another. One 

 day I noticed the little dame sitting quietly in her cup, 

 and decided to go near; just why, I cannot tell. She 

 did not move as I approached; she did not even turn her 

 head to look at me. It was strange. I went right up 

 to the nest, and yet she did not fly. Stretching out my 

 hand, I found that she was dead, her unhatched eggs still 

 under her cold and pulseless bosom. 



I could have wept for my little friends. There was 

 nothing to indicate the cause of the tragedy, no disturb- 

 ance of the nest, no marks of violence on her body. 

 Possibly she had eaten or drunk poison ; perhaps she had 



