The Wit of the Wild 



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Assuming that the average life of one of the 

 woodland songsters may be five years, one-fifth 

 perish annually, and only one in five of the eggs 

 or young survives, or needs to do so, in order 

 to replace the mortality. As a matter of fact, 

 however, the proportion of eggs and nestlings 

 saved is less than one in five, for most small 

 birds attempt to rear two or sometimes three 

 broods a year, and, moreover, the breeding lives 

 of many pairs may continue through several 

 seasons. It would not be too much to say, then, 

 that for every success the birds of our fields 

 and woods suffer seven or eight failures. In 

 some classes the proportion is greater, in others 

 less. Many seabirds rear chicks from nearly 

 every egg they produce, so safe are the condi- 

 tions surrounding their nesting life. 



Now, this mortality is not equally distrib- 

 uted. Birds do not find a part of their eggs 

 infertile, nor do a part of each set of nestlings 

 die, so that each family loses some and saves 

 some of its offspring, but ordinarily they suc- 

 ceed wholly or else wholly fail in respect to each 

 brood; and every such failure is tragic, how- 



