20 
NATURE study. 
Now, ill the next few Nature Stiid}^ lyessons we will try 
to learn something about the flowers, at the same time 
keeping our interest in the insects that love to hover round 
them. 
Maternal Love. 
Every one is familiar with the plaintive cries uttered by 
some .species of birds when their nests are disturbed or 
their young endangered. It indicates no small degree of 
parental solicitude on the part of the little creatures which 
has rightly been made innch of by many writers on bird 
topics. 
But if those birds which merely fly helplessly about and 
clamor piteously are to be praised for their affectionate anx¬ 
iety for their young, what shall be said of a bird which 
deliberately and silently meets death rather than desert its 
off.spring ? 
A writer in Nature Notes, the admirable nature maga¬ 
zine published in Eondon, England, b}^ the Selborne So¬ 
ciety, relates that last .spring at Yelvertoft a gorse patch 
was fired with the purpo.se of destroying the prickly shrub 
which is so abundant in some parts of England. After the 
fire a hen blackbird was found dead with the feathers 
burned off her back. She had built her ne.st and hatched 
her young in one of the shrubs, and she died on the nest 
rather than abandon the helpless little birds to the flames. 
At first thought, the sacrifice seems to have been in 
vain, but it may not have been so. If the male parent 
bird survived, he might very likel}^ return to the task of 
feeding the young after the death of their mother. It 
would be interesting to know if this were the case, but it 
does not appear that au}^ further observation was made aft¬ 
er the traged}^ of the mother’s death was discovered. 
