Birds. 2647 



been taken notice of under the date of May 14th, had terminated her 

 existence. I could not help thinking, as I looked at her, how deep 

 and striking an example she afforded of maternal affection, and how 

 greatly even many of the human race might profit by its contempla- 

 tion ! On the cheek of how many a heartless and unthinking mother 

 might not such a spectacle call up the blush of shame ! The ruthless 

 blast swept, with all its fury, along the lonesome and the unsheltered 

 hill ; the snow rose higher, and the smothering drift came fiercer, as 

 night drew on ; yet did that poor bird, in defiance of the warring ele- 

 ments, continue to protect her home and the treasure which it con- 

 tained, until she could do so no longer, and yielded up her life : that 

 life she could easily have saved, had she been willing to abandon the 

 offspring which Nature had taught her so fervently to cherish, and in 

 the endeavour to preserve which she voluntarily remained and died. 

 And where, on that fatal night, was her partner ? He, too, had 

 doubtless been surprised and overtaken by the unexpected storm; 

 but, having no charge to protect, he had betaken himself to some 

 friendly cover to await the issue of the blast ; and that having come 

 at length, he had winged his way to the place where were his com- 

 panion and her nest : but instead of the brown heath and the rushy 

 marsh which had there become so familiar to him, he now found every- 

 thing enveloped in a mantle of snow. For a while, perhaps, he had 

 wheeled to and fro through the air, uttering his call-note often and 

 loud ; but in vain did he call, for she who would have eagerly responded 

 to it was no longer alive. Despairing of finding the object of his 

 anxious solicitude, he had, at last, winged his mournful flight to some 

 distant lake, to spend the summer alone. Occupied by such feelings 

 and reflections as these, which man}', perhaps, will consider silly and 

 extravagant, but which I could not at the moment help, I know not 

 how long I might have sat had I not been aroused from my reverie by 

 the barking of a shepherd's dog. The sun had already set,— the gray 

 twilight had begun to hide the distant mountains from my view, — 

 and, not caring to be benighted on such a spot, 1 wrapped a piece of 

 paper — as a winding-sheet — around the faithful and devoted bird, 

 contrived to form a hole sufficiently large for the purpose, and into it 

 I put both the mother and the eggs : I covered them over with earth 

 and moss, and above all placed a solid piece of turf; and having done 

 so, and being more affected than I should perhaps be willing to ac- 

 knowledge, I left them to moulder into their original dust, and went 

 on my way. 



June 26th. Having been out this day, in the plantations about 



