1899] TvNDALL — Tin: Birds of a Garden. 139 



robin in a state of mind fast approaching the hysterical, to go 

 forth to his aid. jini crowisnotinfrcquently guiltyofabstracting 

 the contents of a nest ulien liis fancy leads hiin t(^ desire fresh 

 eggs for luncheon, but Jim I could see afar off with some black- 

 coated chums, busy catching frogs down at the meadow pond. The 

 trouble I found to be that one of his young hopefuls had fallen 

 from the nest. I ciuly replaced it, but only to find that instead 

 of calming his fears, it made him think dangers thickened; and 

 his frantic shrieks brought every bird in the neighborhood to 

 see what had happened. The indigo bird who has a nest in the 

 adjoining shrubbery, was there, looking on in silent watchful- 

 ness, the goldfinch who seems to be everywhere at once, swung 

 himself to and fro on a bough, mocking the larger bird with 

 gay carolings and taunting callnotes until a wrathful movement 

 on the part of the object of his attention, caused him to take 

 a speedy departure — and the catbird, who had been hidden in 

 the recesses of the mulberry thicket, practising a series of notes 

 which he firmly believed would impress everybody as being an 

 exact reproduction of the notes of the woodthrush, came out at 

 the top, looked about him for a moment, then with a whisk of 

 the tail which was meant to say — " That fool bird again!" — 

 disappeared as suddenly as he had come. All this does not 

 mean that Robin is without his good points — he is a hardwork- 

 ing, painstaking bird ; devoted to his family, and a songster of 

 no mean order, though as generally heard, snatching a moment's 

 time from his pressing cares to gratif)' his love of the divine 

 art, — singing a hurried matin song while four or five insatiable 

 youngsters are demanding dailv bread, in the shape of earth- 

 worms, or when at any other time of the day, he is obliged to 

 keep a sharp look out for the enemies of him and his ; while he 

 gives his impressions of life musical utterance — it is not often he 

 is heard at his best. Few bird songs would be more missed 

 than his as he sits outlined against the sky on the ridge of a roof 

 through the April evenings, and his voice is ever the first to be 

 heard after a summer .storm, in clear far sounding notes announc- 

 ing that the rain is over and gone. 



