The tender households of the
birds are not only exposed to hostile Indians in the shape of cats and
collectors, but to numerous murderous and bloodthirsty animals, against
whom they have no defense but concealment. They lead the darkest kind
of pioneer life, even in our gardens and orchards, and under the walls
of our houses. Not a day or a night passes, from the time the eggs are
laid till the young are flown, when the chances are not greatly in
favor of the nest being rifled and its contents devoured,--by owls,
skunks, minks, and coons at night, and by crows, jays, squirrels,
weasels, snakes, and rats during the day. Infancy, we say, is hedged
about by many perils; but the infancy of birds is cradled and pillowed
in peril. An old Michigan settler told me that the first six children
that were born to him died; malaria and teething invariably carried
them off when they had reached a certain age; but other children were
born, the country improved, and by and by the babies weathered the
critical period and the next six lived and grew up.
Pages:
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58