226 THE PEWEE FLYCATCHER. 



their avocations, I peeped into their nest, and saw there their first egg, so 

 white and so transparent — for I believe, reader, that eggs soon loose this 

 peculiar transparency after being laid — that to me the sight was more plea- 

 sant than if I had met with a diamond of the same size. The knowledge 

 that in an enclosure so frail, life already existed, and that ere many weeks 

 would elapse, a weak, delicate, and helpless creature, but perfect in all its 

 parts, would burst the shell, and immediately call for the most tender care 

 and attention of its anxious parents, filled my mind with as much wonder as 

 when, looking towards the heavens, I searched, alas! in vain, for the true 

 import of all that I saw. 



In six days, six eggs were deposited; but I observed that as they increased 

 in number, the bird remained a shorter time in the nest. The last she de- 

 posited in a few minutes after alighting. Perhaps, thought I, this is a law 

 of nature, intended for keeping the eggs fresh to the last. About an hour 

 after laying the last egg, the female Pewee returned, settled in her nest, and, 

 after arranging the eggs, as I thought, several times under her body, expand- 

 ed her wings a little, and fairly commenced the arduous task of incubation. 



Day after day passed by. I gave strict orders that no one should go near 

 the cave, much less enter it, or indeed destroy any bird's nest on the planta- 

 tion. Whenever I visited the Pewees, one or other of them was on the 

 nest, while its mate was either searching for food, or perched in the vicinity, 

 filling the air with its loudest notes. I not unfrequently reached out my 

 hand near the sitting bird; • and so gentle had they both become, or rather so 

 well acquainted were we, that neither moved on such occasions, even when 

 my hand was quite close to it. Now and then the female would shrink back 

 into the nest, but the male frequently snapped at my fingers, and once left 

 the nest as if in great anger, flew round the cave a few times, emitting his 

 querulous whining notes, and alighted again to resume his labours. 



At this very time, a Pewee's nest was attached to one of the rafters of 

 my mill, and there was another under a shed in the cattle-yard. Each pair, 

 any one would have felt assured, had laid out the limits of its own domain, 

 and it was seldom that one trespassed on the grounds of its neighbour. The 

 Pewee of the cave generally fed or spent its time so far above the mill on 

 the creek, that he of the mill never came in contact with it. The Pewee of 

 the cattle-yard confined himself to the orchard, and never disturbed the rest. 

 Yet I sometimes could hear distinctly the notes of the three at the same mo- 

 ment. I had at that period an idea that the whole of these birds were de- 

 scended from the same stock. If not correct in this supposition, I had ample 

 proof afterwards that the brood of young Pewees, raised in the cave, returned 

 the following spring, and established themselves farther up on the creek, and 

 among the outhouses in the neighbourhood. 



