4 Maccabees 14:15-17

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

¹⁵ For example, among birds, the ones that are tame protect their young by building on the housetops, ¹⁶ and the others, by building at the tops of mountains and the depths of chasms, in holes of trees, and on tree-tops, hatch the nestlings and ward off the intruder. ¹⁷ If they are not able to keep the intruder^[a] away, they do what they can to help their young by flying in circles around them in the anguish of love, warning them with their own calls.