He grows bigger and
bigger, until at last he throws the little sparrows over the side of the
nest to make room for himself. When the "woolly bears "--the caterpillars
on which they feed--are all gone the cuckoos fly off to find them in South
Africa.
How different from this bird is the faithful dove, who would not desert her
little one, even to save her own life! I must tell you the story of the
particular dove of which I am thinking.
When the famous city of Pompeii--which had lain for eighteen hundred years
buried beneath the ashes and mud which fell upon it during a terrible
eruption of Mount Vesuvius--was brought to light again, as the workmen were
digging among the ruins of what had been a beautiful house, in a niche
overlooking the garden they found the skeleton of a dove. They were not
surprised that, as the sky grew darker and darker upon that dreadful day,
and the soft, choking shower of ashes fell more thickly, many of those who
ran for their lives should have lost their way in the darkness, and fallen
to rise no mare. The skeletons of men and women had been found, just as
they had fallen while trying to escape; but this dove, with her swift
wings, why did she not flee away? Ah, as they lifted her from her nest
the secret was revealed: beneath her lay the egg which the timid, gentle
creature, so brave in her love and faithfulness, would not leave.
If you ask me about fossil-birds, I must tell you that very few have been
found.
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