It was no longer a question of keeping the eggs warm, but of keeping
them from roasting. The sun had no mercy on her, and she fairly panted
in the middle of the day. In such an emergency the male robin has been
known to perch above the sitting female and shade her with his
outstretched wings. But in this case there was no perch for the male
bird, had he been disposed to make a sunshade of himself. I thought to
lend a hand in this direction myself, and so stuck a leafy twig beside
the nest. This was probably an unwise interference; it guided disaster
to the spot; the nest was broken up, and the mother-bird was probably
caught, as I never saw her afterward.
For several previous summers a pair of kingbirds had reared,
unmolested, a brood of young in an apple-tree, only a few yards from
the house; but during this season disaster overtook them also.
The nest was completed, the eggs laid, and incubation had begun,
when, one morning about sunrise, I heard cries of distress and alarm
proceed from the old apple-tree. Looking out of the window I saw a
crow, which I knew to be a fish-crow, perched upon the edge of the
nest, hastily bolting the eggs.
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