BIRD STORIES 



overhanging shelter; and such are the nests they still 

 build when there seems to be need of them. 



They were too far from the pleasant pasture to dig 

 their clay out of the footprints of cows; but there was 

 a track where the automobiles slushed through sticky 

 mud, and they swirled down there and filled their little 

 hods when the road was clear. 



Eve and Petro found a nook even higher up than the 

 others, where a crook-necked jug of a nest did not seem 

 to fit. When they had built their wall as high as need be, 

 they closed it over with a httle rounded dome, and at the 

 side they left two doorways open, one facing the south- 

 west and one facing the southeast. And some days after 

 this was done, had you gone to the foot of their cliff and 

 used a pair of field-glasses, you might have seen Eve's 

 head sticking out of one door and Petro's at the other. 

 Ah, they had, then, some good luck left them. They had 

 had each other in their days of trouble, and now they 

 rested from their building labors and sat happily to- 

 gether in their second home, each with a doorway to 

 enjoy. 



And later on they had more good luck still. For there 

 came a day when they spent no more time sitting at ease 

 within doors, but flew hither and yon, and then, return- 

 ing to the nest, clung outside with their tiny feet and 

 stuck their heads in at the open doorway for a brief 



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