32 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



I still had left in my family a splendid cardinal 

 that I think must surely have belonged to the 

 bigger, brighter red birds of the West, a pair of 

 our common Indiana cardinals, and a pair of rose- 

 breasted grosbeaks with their family of four 

 youngsters. The rose-breasted grosbeaks had 

 built a nest in a tall maple tree growing between 

 our sidewalk and the street. A night of high wind 

 and driving rain broke from the tree the branch on 

 which they had located and dropped it in our yard. 

 From an upstairs window I noticed it early in the 

 morning, my attention having been attracted by 

 the distressing calls of the old birds. There was 

 scarcely a trace of the nest to be found as it had 

 been torn to pieces in the parting of the branches, 

 but I did find every one of the four babies. They 

 were too small for my ministrations, so I repaired 

 the nest, put it in a cage, and set it beside the 

 branch. In a short time the mother bird entered 

 to feed the young. The door was held open with a 

 long piece of string and as soon as she entered it 

 closed. Then she was removed to a larger cage 

 in the house. Inside of half an hour the father 

 bird was captured in the same way. Then the 

 cage was put in a partially darkened room with 

 plenty of food and the parents allowed to take care 

 of their young, which they did with scarcely a 

 sign of protest. I was not particularly attached 

 to this family. I merely helped them out of their 

 predicamenl the besl I knew how and when llic 



