BIRDS' NESTS. 29 



when they are sitting ; they are so accustomed 

 to man, that you may take a hen off her nest 

 and put her back again, without her seeming 

 to care anything about it. 



" But when her eggs are hatched, and she 

 has her brood about her, she is far from being 

 careless then. If a stranger comes into the 

 yard, watch how she calls her little ones around 

 her, and leads them to a place of safety. So 

 tender a mother is she, that our blessed Lord 

 likened her love for her chickens to the love He 

 Himself bore to the Jews. Whatever change 

 may have come over her by being tamed and 

 kept by man, no change has taken place in 

 her affection for her young. If you meddle 

 with her eggs, she does not trouble herself; 

 but let her see you touch one of her chickens, 

 and then watch her anxiety. She will walk 

 boldly up to you, ruffling her feathers and 

 clucking angrily, as if she meant to make you 

 suffer for meddling with her property. But 

 in spite of all this love and anxiety, she has no 



