18 BIRDS' NESTS. 



History, in either of these cases I am inclined 

 to hope he will see that my object is to give 

 his taste a right direction, and to lay before 

 him a few hints which will make the amuse- 

 ment or study, as the case may be, far more 

 interesting to him than it ever was before. 



I have read in one of our standard works 

 on Ornithology, an account of an expedition 

 undertaken by several keen naturalists in quest 

 of the eggs of a certain bird, of which they 

 were very desirous to obtain specimens for 

 their collection. After a journey of very many 

 miles, and a diligent search in the place which 

 the bird was said to frequent, they succeeded 

 in finding a single nest containing only a 

 young bird and one egg on the point of being 

 hatched. They consulted as to what they 

 should do. It would be a great pity, they 

 thought, for the poor little bird to know 

 nothing of life, but a few moments of pain; 

 and yet, having travelled so far in quest of the 

 egg, they were loath to leave it behind them. 



