A SILVER-TONGUED FAMILY 



113 



seashore. For this reason he makes his home all 

 through the Northern States, from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, following the mountains southward, and mak- 

 ing long summer excursions to Labrador, Hudson Bay, 

 and even Alaska. 



" What stories of wild beasts he might tell us if he 

 would I For he looks 

 out of his nest of 

 grass, moss, bark, 

 and rootlets, to 

 see moose browsing 

 among the young 

 trees, and hears 

 black bears 

 growling. His 

 bird companions 

 are Snow-birds, 

 Horned Larks, 

 Crossbills, and 

 Pine Grosbeaks; 

 and he trembles 

 lest the Great 

 Gray Owl shall 

 find his nest- 

 lings. 



" But much as he loves cool weather for nest-building, 

 he tires of it when the first frost touches the valleys, 

 and snow caps the tops of his favorite mountains ; for 

 then his insect food grows scarce. So he changes his 

 summer habits ; leaving the guild of Ground Gleaners, 

 and becoming a Seed Sower, he follows the sun tow^ard 

 the tropics, Avhere, likely enough, 



Olive-backed Thrush. 



he tells the alligators 



