FEATHERED PHILOSOPHERS 97 



chose a trellis over the foot-path, and 

 still another an evergreen branch by 

 the roadside. All three nests were in 

 plain sight, and I watched their com- 

 ings and goings at intervals from morn- 

 ing until evening. The father and 

 mother alternately covered the eggs 

 and supplied the wants of the nestlings ; 

 but at night if I looked at the nest by 

 the aid of a lantern, the mother alone 

 was sitting, and no peering or shaking 

 of the branches revealed the perch of 

 the father. This seemed a little un- 

 usual, as in the case of others of the 

 same family, the wood thrush and the 

 catbird, I had seen the male perch on 

 the edge of the nest, on a twig near 

 by, or huddling close to the female. 



One bright moon-lit June night, 

 chancing to go near the pines in the 

 loneliest part of the garden, a hubbub 

 arose as some night bird flapped in 



H 



