or remote and heavy timber where there is slight 

 chance of molestation. Here, in a rough nest of 

 sticks and leaves, upon the ground, in a hollow 

 log, upon a stump, or sometimes upon the bare 

 earth, are laid the two long, brown-blotched eggs 

 that constitute the complement. 



"I once found a nest/' a correspondent writes, 

 "in a low, thick mat of briers and grape-vines. 

 The female was brooding her eggs when I came 

 upon the nest, and the moment she caught sight 

 of me, instead of trying to defend her treasures 

 as any normal mother would have done, she 

 turned like a demon upon her nest, thrust her 

 beak intp one of her eggs, and devoured it before 

 I could scare her off." 



This unnatural act is thus far without parallel 

 in my observation of bird life. But it is only 

 testimony of what one may read in the appear- 

 ance of the buzzard. The indolent habits, the 

 unnamable tastes, have demoralized and un- 

 mothered the creature. 



I cannot think that the buzzard was so de- 

 praved back in the Beautiful Garden. The curse 

 of Adam is on him ; but instead of sweating like 

 the rest of us and so redeeming himself, he is 

 [334] 



