The Audubon Societies 373 



XI. Spherical Nests of Grasses, Bark, or Fibers: 



A. On the ground very thickly lined with soft grasses Meadow Mouse 



AA. In bushes or vines, usually on some old bird's nest and lined with cotton or 



wool Deer Mouse 



AAA. In trees or about buildings 



1. Of bark and fibers, no lining, usually some leaves or sticks, often on an 



old Crow's nest Squirrel 



2. Of grasses lined with feathers House Sparrow 



FROM YOUNG OBSERVERS 

 A TIMELY RESCUE 



Heavy snow had covered all the usual feeding-grounds of the birds. My 

 friend put some crumbs on her window-sill. These were soon found by the 

 English Sparrows, who feasted on them gladly. 



One day, among the guests appeared a Song Sparrow. Further investigation 

 showed where he was roosting — under a barberry hedge piled with snow. 



Every morning he breakfasted on the crumbs and just before dusk he would 

 come regularly for supper, then enter a little hole in the snow-bank, and creep 

 into his bed. 



This continued for about three weeks, when another snowfall came and for 

 three days my friend missed her little protege. On the third morning, January 

 31, the temperature at zero, it was found that the entrance to the retreat in the 

 hedge was filled with snow. A search followed, and near the underpinning of 

 the house, under some shrubbery, lay what appeared to be a dead Sparrow. 

 On taking him up it was found that his heart was still beating. The little crea- 

 ture was taken into the house, where he revived. 



He is now a petted member of the household, and, no doubt, will repay his 

 benefactors next spring with his cheery songs. 



I should mention that a family of Song Sparrows was raised in this barberry 

 hedge last spring. Can it be that this one accidentally got left behind when the 

 rest of his family took their southern flight? — Cassandana Thayer, Quincy, 

 Mass. 



[Every severe winter many birds die from starvation and it is seldom that individuals 

 meet with such a timely rescue as did this little Song Sparrow. But by feeding the birds 

 regularly during the winter and never letting the supply of food fail, many catastrophes 

 are averted. — A. A. A.] 



THE NEST OF THE LOUISIANA WATER-THRUSH 



The male and female Water Thrush are alike in coloring. The general color 

 is brown, with the upper parts of olive-brown and the under parts of buff 

 with dark brown streaks. 



Our bird class watched this nest from the time it was first made, until the 

 baby birds left the nest. Whenever a person watched it or even passed by it, 

 the parent birds would fly around, uttering sharp chirps. One day they seemed 

 to be more disturbed than usual and it was discovered that one little bird had 



