File:The birds of America - from drawings made in the United States and their territories (1840) (14568530450).jpg

Identifier: birdsofamericafr04audu (find matches)
Title: The birds of America : from drawings made in the United States and their territories
Year: 1840 (1840s)
Authors: Audubon, John James, 1785-1851 Bowen, John T., ca. 1801-1856?, lithographer
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: New York : Published by J.J. Audubon Philadelphia : J.B. Chevalier
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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nches wither, the core dies and putrefies. Grey and shaggylichens cover its trunk and limbs. The Woodpecker resorts to it for thepurpose of procuring the insects which find shelter beneath its decayed bark.Blackness spreads over the heavens, the muttering of the thunder is heard.Suddenly there comes on the ear the rushing noise of the whirlwind, whichscatters the twigs and the foliage around, and meeting in its path the patriarchof the forest, lays him prostrate on the ground. For years the massy trunklies extended on the earth; but it is seen gradually giving way. The sum-mers sun and the winters frost crumble it into dust, which goes to augmentthe soil. And thus has it finished its course. Look again at the egg, dropped on its curious bed, the construction ofwhich has cost the parent bird many labours and anxieties. It also is a seed,but it gives rise to a very different object. Fostered by the warmth impartedby the anxious parent, the germ which it contains swells into life, and at
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THE COW-PEN-BIRD. 17 length bursting its fragile enclosure, comes tottering into existence. Tosustain the life and contribute to the development of this helpless being, themother issues in quest of food, which she carefully places in its open throat.Day after day it acquires new development under the fostering care of itsnurse, until at length, invested with all the powers which Nature intendedto bestow upon it, it spreads its pinions to the breeze, and sallies forth toperform the many offices for which it is destined. How often have I watched over the little bird in its nest, and marked thechanges which day after day it exhibited: the unfolding of its first scantycovering of down, the sprouting of its plumelets, the general enlargement ofall its parts! With what pleasure have I viewed the development of itscolouring and the early manifestations of its future habits! Amid these wonderful operations of Nature, there is one which has occa-sionally engaged my attention, and occupied my t

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