BIRDS' NESTS. 203 



eggs ; so the next time she visited her nest, 

 finding it empty, she went there no more. 



Another duck, the white one mentioned 

 above, had made her nest in a bed of peri- 

 winkles, not far from the house. Her white 

 colour discovered her soon after she had begun 

 to sit; but since it was not expected that 

 trespassers would come into the garden, and 

 she was tolerably well hid by the plants around 

 her, she was allowed to retain her post undis- 

 turbed. She was very tame, and would not 

 only allow any one to come close to her with- 

 out moving, but if any one held out to her a 

 handful of barley, would quickly gobble it up, 

 without leaving her eggs. This fearlessness of 

 strangers made Mr. Miller more afraid, that 

 if, as he suspected, some dishonest .person had 

 been prowling about the place, both duck and 

 eggs would have been carried off. A few 

 minutes set the matter at rest. The plants 

 were trampled down, the eggs gone,, though, 

 being within a few days of hatching, they were 



