The Wit of the Wild 

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intent alarm, she will quietly let you come quite 

 close, trusting to the invisible rusty hue of her 

 back ; but at your next step her fears overcome 

 her prudence and she is off like a fleeing shadow, 

 never fluttering away, pretending to be wing- 

 broken, as does the nighthawk when similarly 

 disturbed. This, very likely, is the first inti- 

 mation you have of her presence; and then, as 

 your eye alights upon her treasures and you 

 stoop down to examine them, you hear the soft 

 duckings of the distressed mother, and perhaps 

 see her flitting in timid circles around you as 

 if tethered by a cord. Audubon declares that 

 these birds will move their eggs to a safe place if 

 they are handled by any one ; and describes how 

 he himself saw each of a pair of chuck-will's- 

 widows pick up an egg in its mouth and fly away 

 with it. He also says that they will carry the 

 fledglings out of danger in the same way; and 

 Wilson tells how, after he had been sketching 

 a downy young whip-poor-will, on going back 

 for a forgotten pencil, he found that his little 

 model had disappeared, although unable to 

 travel. There is no reason to discredit these 

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