16 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



they offered for sale. On inquiry it came out 

 that they had stolen the nest from a hedgerow. 

 " The young birds will die without the mother," 

 said I. " Oh ! we ha' got her too ; she wouldn't 

 leave 'em ; so we put her in a cage at home !" 

 Alas ! poor bird ; another victim to maternal 

 love, exercised at the cost of freedom ; dearer 

 to her than life itself! Probably her fate was 

 similar to that of the blackbird, whose nest was 

 stolen by a boy from the Great Park of Windsor, 

 and carried by him, with the young brood it 

 contained, to his house, where he placed it in a 

 cage outside his chamber window. The parent 

 birds were witnesses to the theft, and followed 

 their captive young ones, which they afterwards 

 fed daily until they were fledged. The boy then 

 sold them, one by one, as opportunity afforded, 

 till they were all disposed of. The morning 

 after the last bird was sold, the female blackbird 

 was found dead beneath the cage in which her 

 beloved offspring had been confined. 



It has been remarked by an accurate observer, 

 that the natural timidity of birds is a 



PEAK. 



great preservative to them. The female 

 of almost all birds is invariably silent, or, at least, 

 monotonous. If she were disposed to sing during 

 the period of incubation, or while rearing the 

 young, her place of retreat would be more readily 



