filthy, weed-grown water and picked up the birds — the handsome male, with a 

 broken wing, broken just where the beautiful shoulder feathers grew; and the 

 female with one wing broken and shot through the body. 



How sorrowful we felt. Their graceful manners and shy, witching ways 

 had made them very dear to us. A few minutes before, they had been joyful 

 and full of life and now we were carrying them to the house dangerously 

 wounded, their song forever hushed, the victims of the very one whose crops 

 they would have protected. During nesting time they must destroy from 400 

 to 600 worms and insects per day. 



What could we do with them? There were four little ones waiting for their 

 suppers and we knew not how to care for them. Tf only one old bird had been 

 left! 



We cut off the double top of the little elm which held the nest and placed 

 it in a jar of water in the bay window and covered the little birds in the nest with 

 a handful of hen's feathers and a cloth. Then we prepared some strong carbolic 

 acid and water, wet the male bird's broken wing with it and wrapped him up in 

 the bottom of a basket. The otiier bird was soaked with the filthy swamp water, 

 so we rinsed her off in the carbolized water, dried her feathers carefully and 

 wrapped her up in a box. 



They were only birds, but the Bible says that not even a sparrow shall fall 

 to the ground without the Father's knowledge. 



We went sadly to bed. The old birds must have passed a terrible night — 

 alone, frightened, in a strange place, sorrowing for their little ones and suffer- 

 ing tortures from their wounds which we did not know how to dress. 



All the next day, Sunday, June 4th, I spent with the birds, trying to relieve 

 the suffering of the old ones and find food for the little ones. Either old bird 

 would remain quiet on one hand, covered with the other hand, as long as I would 

 hold it. It seemed to comfort them. 



Angleworms were all we could find and the little ones did not like them but 

 we knew not what the old birds fed tiicm nor where to get it. 



The old birds tried climbing the elm Intsh but made sad failures, usually 

 falling down before reaching the nest. 



I put one of the little ones in a robin's nest, thinking the robin would know 

 more about bird food than I. On the morning of the 5th, this bird and one of 

 the others died. I made the mistake of leaving these dead birds where the old 

 ones could see them. The remaining two I placed in a box lined with warm clotli 

 and covered them with a feather blanket. 



During Monday forenoon, the mother bird seemed more cheerful autl this 

 brightened up the other bird. She picked two pupae from a can of dirt, ate two 

 grubs and induced her mate to cat a coujilc. Tlu-y both kept climbing to tlic nest 

 and seemed to miss the little ones. 



In the afternoon, she began to crcci) into <!ark corners and sit still. Her mate 



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