SIXTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

BIRDS. THEIR PAIRING AND HATCHING.

EARLY in spring, almost every little songster of the grove is found to have chosen a mate, to which he remains faithful, till the young brood, the object of their tender cares, have become able to provide for their own subsistence. In this respect, they approach nearer the human race than any other of the lower animals. Male insects, so far as we know, never share in the parental cares of the female. In some few instances of insects living in communities, these domestic duties are performed by a separate caste, as we have already seen in the case of bees and ants; in all other instances, the task seems to fall exclusively on the female.

The males of quadrupeds are, in the greatest variety of cases, not more observant of the wants of their future offspring than those of insects; though there are considerable exceptions to this rule, among those classes of the brute creation which burrow in the earth, or whose progeny are long helpless and dependent. This matter, indeed, is regulated, like every other provision of Creative Intelligence, with singular adaptation to the wants and circumstances of the species. Where animals suckle their young, as is the case with quadrupeds, the attentions of the male are seldom required, the necessary food being at hand; and, in the case of insects, the eggs are usually deposited where the larvæ, as soon as hatched, can easily find their way to their own food, so that, in many instances, the egg is abandoned, even by the female, the moment it is dropped; and, where incubation takes place, as in the case of the spider, the first appearance of a living progeny is a signal that her task is at an end.

It is not so with birds. Their parental duties are tedious and full of labor, beginning long before the chick is produced, and continuing for a considerable time after its extrusion from the shell. They have frequently to

build an artificial nest, with skill and toil, after which, the eggs are to be laid and brooded on, the young are to be fed and educated. All of these operations require, some of them absolutely demand, assistance. The feeding of the young, for example, might, in many instances, be impossible, without the joint efforts of both parents. A young bird, in the nest, is exceedingly voracious, and will eagerly consume its own weight of food in a day. Where the means of procuring a daily supply for eight or ten greedy and craving mouths, is not very near or abundant, it is easy to see that the poor mother could not, with all her efforts, accomplish the task alone. The Creator, therefore, who placed her in these circumstances, has provided for her the means of not only lightening her labors, but rendering them delightful. Her faithful and affectionate mate constantly attends her; they build the nest together; by day, while she performs the duty of incubation, he either collects her necessary food, and carefully feeds her himself, or occasionally supplies her place in the nest, while she hunts the hedges and fields, to satisfy her own wants; and when the task is accomplished, he sits on a neighboring bough, and cheers her tedium with a song. By night, the nest is their common roosting-place, where they nestle side by side. When the callow brood are hatched, they roam, together or apart, to forage for them in the neighboring gardens, or woods, or lawns; and, urged by parental affection, and warned by mutual sympathy, they ply their constant toil, without remission, and without weariness. When, at length, the first helpless stage of existence is past, and the young, full-fledged, are to be committed to their own resources, the little patient and affectionate arts with which they unite to train their tender charge to the important functions of their being, gracefully crown these varied and tender labors of love.

That reciprocal affection is the moving principle of these instincts, is not only probable, from their analogy to human sympathies, but seems to be proved by various facts, which have been observed by those who have studied their habits. On this question, I have been much

struck with a well-told and interesting anecdote, by Bingley, of a pair of tame Guinea parrots, which I feel much pleasure in transcribing.

"A male and female of this species were lodged together in a large square cage. The vessel which held their food was placed at the bottom. The male usually sat on the same perch with the female, and close beside her. Whenever one descended for food, the other always followed; and when their hunger was satisfied, they returned together to the highest perch of the cage. They passed four years together in this state of confinement; and, from their mutual attentions and satisfaction, it was evident that a strong affection for each other had been excited. At the end of this period, the female fell into a state of languor, which had every symptom of old age; her legs swelled, and knots appeared on them, as if the disease had been of the nature of gout. It was no longer possible for her to descend and take her food, as formerly; but the male assiduously brought it to her, carrying it in his bill, and delivering it into hers.

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"He continued to feed her in this manner, with the utmost vigilance, for four months. The infirmities of his mate, however, increased every day; and, at length, she became no longer able to sit upon the perch; she remained crouched at the bottom, and, from time to time, made a few useless efforts to regain the lower perch; while the male, who remained close to her, seconded these feeble attempts with all his power. Sometimes he seized with his bill the upper part of her wing, to try to draw her to him; sometimes he took hold of her bill, and attempted to raise her up, repeating his efforts for that purpose several times. His countenance, his gestures, his continual solicitude, every thing, in short, indicated, in this affectionate bird, an ardent desire to aid the weakness of his companion, and to alleviate her sufferings. But the scene became still more interesting, when the female was at the point of expiring. Her unfortunate partner went round and round her without ceasing; he redoubled his assiduities and his tender cares; he attempted to open her bill, in order to give her nourishment; his emotion

every instant increased; he went to her, and returned with the most agitated air, and with the utmost inquietude; at intervals he uttered the most plaintive cries; at other times, with his eyes fixed upon her, he preserved a sorrowful silence. His faithful companion at last expired; he languished from that time, and survived her only a few months."*

SIXTH WEEK-WEDNESDAY.

BIRDS. PAIRING AND HATCHING, CONTINUEd.

THE affectionate attention which birds show to each other during the pairing season, and in some instances continue to evince at other times, was noticed yesterday. Some other instances of this, marking peculiarities in the instinctive feeling, shall now be mentioned.

Birds which are constant to each other, as there is reason to believe many species are, generally return to the same locality in the breeding season; and, if they are not migratory, remain, throughout the year, in the immediate neighborhood. "We have, in more than one instance," says Mr. Rennie, "observed a pair of magpies nestle on the same tree for a series of years, where they reared a brood of four or five young ones every season. All of these disappeared from the neighborhood; at least, we observed no increase in the number of nests. In one instance, we observed a magpie's nest thus successively occupied for ten years."t

It is well known, that migratory birds return, year after year, to the same place, each accompanied with his mate; it is not certain, however, whether or not the mate be the same individual; and, indeed, the facility with which a bird, which has lost his companion, can supply himself with another, throws some doubt on the subject. This facility is mentioned both by Montague and White, who * Bingley's Animal Biography, vol. ii. p. 224. † Library of Entertaining Knowledes

of Birds, p. 74.

have stated various facts in support of it. The following anecdote, recorded by Professor Kalm, is very striking. "A couple of swallows built their nest in a stable, and the female had eggs in the nest, and was about to brood them. Some days afterwards, the people saw the female sitting on the eggs; but the male, flying about the nest, and sometimes sitting on a nail, was heard to utter a very plaintive note, which betrayed his uneasiness. On a nearer examination, the female was found dead in the nest, and the people flung her body away. The male then went to sit upon the eggs; but after being about two hours on them, and, perhaps, finding the business too troublesome, he went out, and returned in the afternoon with another female, which sat upon the nest, and afterwards fed the young ones till they were able to provide for themselves."

Mr. Rennie mentions some circumstances respecting the black-cap, which seem to confirm what has been stated above, and are curious in themselves. "There has been," says he, "in a garden adjacent to ours, the nest of a black-cap, for a succession of years, and broods have been successively reared there, without any observable increase in the population of the species. Yet this bird, which is little bigger than a wren, weighing only half an ounce, has to traverse annually the whole of the south of Europe, and probably a great proportion of the north of Africa, exposed, of course, to numerous accidents, as well as to occasional scarcity of its appropriate food. From the regular annual restoration, however, of this nest at the same spot, it is obvious, that one, if not both of the black-caps, must have been wont to perform this migration to and from Africa, as safely as the more hardy cuckoo, or the more swift-winged swallow. During the spring of 1831, the black-caps, which we suppose to be the same birds, from their keeping to the same place of nestling, were more than usually late in arriving; for, in another garden, about a mile off, there were young in the hereditary nest of black-caps, before our little neighbors made their appearance from the south. When they did arrive, their attention was immediately attracted by the unusual cir