mother-bird

The girl swept down over him like a mother-bird spreading wings for the protection of its young, stroked his swollen cheeks, whispered anything into his unhearing ear.

"The Barrier" by Harl Vincent, part 6 Johnny Pez 2009

While he, the aged sire, like mother-bird wailing her unfledged brood, comes hasting hither with halting steps on his bitter journey.

Heracles 2008

Ah! poor maidens, luckless brides, come weep, for Ilium is now but a ruin; and I, like some mother-bird that o're her fledglings screams, will begin the strain; how different from that song I sang to the gods in days long past, as I leaned on Priam's staff, and beat with my foot in Phrygian time to lead the dance!

The Trojan Women 2008

Ah! poor maidens, luckless brides, come weep, for Ilium is now but a ruin; and I, like some mother-bird that o're her fledglings screams, will begin the strain; how different from that song I sang to the gods in days long past, as I leaned on Priam's staff, and beat with my foot in Phrygian time to lead the dance!

The Trojan Women 2008

While he, the aged sire, like mother-bird wailing her unfledged brood, comes hasting hither with halting steps on his bitter journey.

Heracles 2008

This chick would take all as long as there was a drop left, and then resent the fondling of the mother-bird as interference.

The Way We Live Now 2004

His heart felt sore, as the great heart of a mother-bird feels sore when its youngling flies and bruises its wing.

The Man of Property 2004

The mother-bird then remarked, ‘Truly, father! you were about to do a strange thing, and a terrible sin has been averted from you.’

The Brown Fairy Book 2003

But whereas the eggs of quadrupeds are hatched out by the mere heat of the weather owing to their strength, those of birds are more exposed to destruction and need the mother-bird.

On the Generation of Animals 2002

Eggs are hatched by the incubation of the mother-bird.

The History of Animals 2002