NOTES

Notes

One year we watched three successive broods of weaver chicks dying from starvation because there was at the time a very industrious feline hunter in the neighborhood.

Another year it was delightful to observe a baby dove peeping down at us from his high nest as we take our dog for his daily walkies.   We used to see the parents hovering about.  The chick was growing nicely when, one morning, I saw a lot of feathers on our driveway.    I was hoping it did not belong to one of the chick’s parents but it did.   A few days later we saw another lot of feathers lying there.  It was the other parent, taken by the same cat, I presume.   We saw the little chick sitting up there looking down from his nest, until it shriveled away, waiting in vain.   .

Nature is both wonderful and cruel.

(We did not rescue the chick in time because we may have been mistakenly identified the owners of the feathers.   I like to leave nature to its own devices as far as possible – I would hate to unnecessary remove a chick from its natural environment.