216 Maternal Affection. [cHAP. XII. 
This was an undoubted proof that the poor mother had sat 
upon them from two to three weeks. With her dead body 
in my hand, I sat down to investigate the matter, and to as- 
certain, if I could, the cause of her death. I examined her 
minutely all over, and could find neither wound nor any 
mark whatever of violence. She had every appearance of 
having died of suffocation. Although I had only circum- 
stantial evidence, I had no hesitation in arriving at the con- 
clusion that she had come by her death in a desperate but 
faithful struggle to protect her eggs from the fatal effects 
of the recent snow-storm. ; 
“T could not help thinking, as I looked at her, how deep 
and striking an example she afforded of maternal affection. 
The ruthless blast had swept with all its fury along the 
lonesome and unsheltered hill. The snow had risen higher, 
and the smothering drift came fiercer, as night drew on; 
yet still that poor bird, in defiance of the warring elements, 
continued to protect her home, and the treasure which it 
contained, 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 endeavoring to 
preserve which she voluntarily remained and died. Occu- 
pied with such feelings and reflections as these, I know not 
how long I might have sat, had I not been roused 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 sight, and, not caring to be benighted 
on such a spot, I wrapped a piece of paper, as a winding- 
sheet, round the faithful and devoted bird, and, forming 
a hole sufficiently large for the purpose, I laid into it the 
mother and the eggs. I covered them with earth and moss, 
and over all placed a solid piece of turf; and having done 
so, and being more affected than I should perhaps be will- 
ing to acknowledge, I left them to molder into their orig- 
inal dust, and went on my way.” 
