146 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



The kite is a very close sitter. Like the crow, she 

 knoweth the wickedness of her own heart, and as she 

 judges others by herself, deems it necessary to con- 

 tinually mount guard over her eggs. Patience eventually 

 meets with its reward. Three weeks of steady sitting 

 result in the appearance of the young kites. 



This long and patient sitting on the part of parent 

 birds is, when one comes to think of it, a most remark- 

 able phenomenon. No sooner do the eggs appear in 

 the nest than the most active little bird seems to lose 

 all its activity and become quite sedentary in its habits. 

 Take, for example, the sprightly white-browed fantail fly- 

 catcher (Rhipidura albifrontata), a bird which ordinarily 

 seems to have St. Vitus's dance in every organ and 

 appendage. This species will, when it has eggs, sit as 

 closely or more closely than a barndoor hen, and will 

 sometimes allow you to stroke it. I often wonder what 

 are the feelings of such a bird when incubating. One 

 is tempted to think that it must find the process in- 

 tensely boring. But this cannot be so, or it would 

 refuse to sit. The fowls of the air are not hampered 

 by the Ten Commandments ; they are free to do that 

 to which the spirit moveth them, without let or hindrance, 

 without fear of arrest or prosecution for breach of the 

 law. Hence birds must positively enjoy sitting on their 

 eggs. At the brooding season avine nature undergoes 

 a complete change. Ordinarily a bird delights to ex- 

 pend its ebullient energy in vigorous motion, just as a 

 strong man delights to run a race ; but at the nesting 

 season its inclinations change ; then its greatest joy is 

 to sit upon its nest. Even as human beings are suddenly 



