BIRDS '-JV£i TS. 1 1 1 



nigh, he was seen afar off, sailing around in placid un- 

 concern. 



It is generally known that when either the wild tur- 

 key or domestic turkey begins to lay, and afterwards to 

 sit and rear the brood, she secludes herself from the 

 male, who then, very sensibly, herds with others of his 

 sex, and betakes himself to haunts of his own till male 

 and female, old and young, meet again on common 

 ground, late in the fall. But rob the sitting bird of her 

 eggs, or destroy her tender young, and she immediately 

 sets out in quest of a male, who is no laggard when he 

 hears her call. The same is true of ducks and other 

 aquatic fowls. The propagating instinct is strong, and 

 surmounts all ordinary difficulties. No doubt the wid- 

 owhood I had caused in the case of the woodpeckers 

 was of short duration, and chance brought, or the 

 widow drummed up, some forlorn male, who was not 

 dismayed by the prospect of having a large family of 

 half-grown birds .on his hands at the outset. 



I have seen a fine cock robin paying assiduous ad- 

 dresses to a female bird, as late as the middle of July ; 

 and I have no doubt that his intentions were honor- 

 able. I watched the pair for half an hour. The hen, I 

 took it, was in the market for the second time that sea- 

 son ; but the cock, from his bright, unfaded plumage, 

 looked like anew arrival. The hen resented every ad- 

 vance of the male. In vain he strutted around her and 

 displayed his fine feathers ; every now and then she 

 would make at him in the most spiteful manner. He 



