FOUR LITTLE FLYCATCHERS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sxn,—I have lately witnessed a tragic incident in bird life, which may interest your readers.
A pair of flycatchers built in the Virginian creeper on the wall of my house, and just as the brood was fledged the cock-bird disappeared ; a victim, I fear, to my neighbour's prowling tabby. The care of the family consequently devolved upon Mrs. Flycatcher, and she was probably young and inexperienced for, I think, she allowed her babies to leave the nest too soon.
The descent of some ten or twelve feet to the ground was a passage perilous and occupied twenty-four hours, which were spent in the shelter of the creeper, and only on the morning of the second day did the young birds arrive on the lawn in front of my windows. There were four of them. No. 1 was strong and active, and could flit a few feet along the ground ; Nos. 2 and 3 must have been twins, they were so precisely similar in size, shape, and markings ; No. 4 was a tiny creature barely able to hop, and quite unfit to venture into the world.
I watched the group carefully all day, and saw that the mother bird, from early morning till 0 p.m., never paused in her task of bringing food, always giving No. 1 a double feed, but not one morsel would she allow to the unfortunate No. 4, though it squeaked piteously through the long hours, and made every effort to attract her attention. Once she alighted in front of it with a beakful of titbits, but instantly hopped away to bestow them on No. 1, which must have been a veritable torture to the starving creature. At last about 3 p.m. it made an agonized struggle to reach its mother, fell over on its back, and died, starved to death by its relentless parent.
What impulse can have prompted her behaviour ? Is the law of the survival of the fittest in nature so powerful as to overcome the parental instinct ? Was she aware that the one of her brood, which apparently most needed care and protection, was a weakling, or injured in some way that precluded its chance of development ? Or did she know that without her mate to help her, she could only provide food sufficient for three of her nestlings ? Whatever may have been her motive, her action was reasoned and deliberate.
About 6 o'clock she ceased for an hour to bring supplies, but remained close at hand watching over her little family, and constantly chirping encouragement. Finally, she gave them a good supper and got them under the shelter of the hedge where they might have passed the night in safety but for a violent rainstorm that arose at midnight and lasted till dawn. In the morning the charming little trio lay drenched and drowned. Well might the mother have cried, " What ! all my pretty Babes " but their " death from natural causes," though involving, as it surely did, grief and disappointment to the faithful little heart that had so nearly completed its task of devotion, was a less poignant tragedy than the long- drawn suffering inflicted with so much fixity of purpose on the ill-starred No. 4.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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