1860. | 
while my companions were taking their 
turn in exploring the lay of the land 
around us, and noted no variation of 
the programme. It would be curious 
to know if the young are fed and waited 
upon in regular order, and how, amid 
the darkness and the crowded state of 
the apartment, the matter is so neatly 
managed. But the ornithologists are 
all silent upon the subject. 
This practice of the birds is not 
so uncommon as it might at first 
seem. It is indeed almost an invaria- 
ble rule among all the land birds. With 
woodpeckers and kindred species, and 
with birds that burrow in the ground, 
as bank swallows, kingfishers, &c., it 
is a necessity. The accumulation of 
the excrement in the nest would most 
likely prove fatal to the young. 
But even among birds which neither 
bore nor mine, but which build a shallow 
nest on the branch of a tree or upon the 
ground, as the robin, the finches, the 
buntings, &c., the ordure of the young 
is removed to a distance by the parent 
bird. When the robin is seen going 
away from its brood with a slow heavy 
flight, entirely different from its manner 
a moment before on approaching the 
nest with acherry or worm, it is certain 
to be engaged in this office. One may 
observe the social sparrow, when feed- 
ing its young, pause a moment after the 
worm has been given, and hop around 
on the brink of the nest, observing the 
movements within. 
The instinct of cleanliness no doubt 
prompts the action in all cases, though 
the disposition to secrecy or conceal- 
ment may not be unmixed with it. 
The swallows form an exception to 
the rule, the excrement being voided 
by the young over the brink of the nest. 
They form an exception, also, to the 
rule of secrecy, aiming not so much to 
conceal the nest as to render it inacces- 
sible. 
Other exceptions are the pigeons, 
hawks, and water-fowls. 
But to return. Having a good chance 
to note the color and markings of the 
woodpeckers as they passed in and 
out at the opening of the nest, I saw 
Lird's-Nests. 
793 
that Audubon had made a mistake in 
figuring or describing the female of this 
species with the red spot upon the 
head. I have seen a number of pairs 
of them, andin no instance have I seen 
the mother bird marked with red. 
The male was in full plumage, and 
I reluctantly shot him for a specimen. 
Passing by the place again next day, I 
paused a moment to note how matters 
stood. I confess it was not without 
some compunctions that I heard the 
cries of the young birds, and saw the 
widowed mother, her cares now doub- 
led, hastening to and fro in the soli- 
tary woods. She would occasionally 
pause expectantly on the trunk of a 
tree, and utter a loud call. 
It usually happens, when the male 
_ of any species is killed during the 
breeding season, that the female soon 
procures another mate. There are, 
most likely, always a few unmated birds, 
of botli sexes, within a given range, 
and through these the broken links may 
be restored. Audubon or Wilson, I for- 
get which, tells of a pair of fish-hawks, 
or ospreys, that built their nest in an 
ancient oak. The male was so zealous 
in the defence of the young that it ac- 
tually attacked with beak and claw a 
person who attempted to climb into its 
nest, putting his face and eyes in great 
jeopardy. Arming himself with a heavy 
club, the climber felled the gallant bird 
to the ground and killed him. In the 
course of a few days the female had 
procured another mate. But naturally 
enough the step-father showed none of 
the spirit and pluck in defence of the 
brood that had been displayed by the 
original parent. When danger was 
nigh, he was seen afar off, sailing around 
in placid unconcern. 
It is generally known that when either 
the wild turkey or domestic turkey 
begins to lay, and afterwards to sit and 
rear the brood, she secludes herself from 
the male, who then, very sensibly, herds 
with others of his sex, and betakes 
himself to haunts of his own till male 
and female, old and young, meet again 
on common ground, late in the fall. 
But rob the sitting bird of her eggs, 
