XXV 



K STRANGE NEST 



ONE day Orvil Greeson and I started to the river to go 

 fishing. Boylike we cut across fields and soon found 

 ourselves in a large cornfield. Then Orvil said to me, "Let 

 us go over to the bird's nest I found yesterday while plow- 

 ing.^^ No one ever saw a boy who wasn't interested in a 

 bird's nest, especially if it be in such an unusual place as 

 a cornfield, and so of course we went over. Near the middle 

 of the field in a small clump of bushes he pointed to two 

 whitish eggs lying on the ground without any indications of 

 a nest. Now mother had taught me that we ought not to 

 rob birds' nests, so the first thing I said was, *^Why did 

 you rob the nest?" His answer was, "I did not." '^ut," 

 I said, "there's no nest there. Where did these eggs come 

 from ?" "The old bird laid them right there," he said, and 

 we had quite a discussion as to what sort of bird it was. 

 Orvil said that when he was plowing corn the day before 

 a queer looking gray bird flew up in front of his team 

 and fluttered about so much that he stopped to see what 

 was the matter. Of course the bird got away, but Orvil 

 saw the eggs. He was not well enough acquainted with the 

 bird to know it, so when I went home I asked mother 

 what it was. She said it was a whippoorwill, but that 

 their eggs are usually slightly speckled. We did not have 



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