128 



Bird- Lore 



time to spade the garden, and, so far as the Robins were concerned, their choice 

 had been ideal. 



Then came days of warm sunshine, when the grass had grown up deep and 

 bright green, when the tree-buds were bursting into leaf, and everywhere 

 gardens were scenes of spading, raking, and seed-planting. The back porch 

 was once again called into usefulness, to the inconvenience of Mother Robin. 

 Every time the kitchen door opened, the frightened bird rapidly slipped off 

 her nest and sailed out onto the ground. She never made a sound but, with 

 the instinct to deceive, left the nest as if her departure had been without the 

 least concern. And then when silence was assured, and the cause of alarm had 



BROODING AND PANTING 



gone, the faithful little bird was seen flying from some nearby spot toward her 

 trust. She would alight upon the vine, look and listen for a moment, and then 

 hop up onto the edge of the nest. For a short time she would stand there, 

 turning her head about as if fondly looking down and admiring something in 

 the nest, and then carefully, softly she would snuggle into place. 



One day after the Robin had been kept from her nest unusually long because 

 of the spading being done in the garden, a few feet away, she became restless, 

 and from the branch of a little apple tree chattered out a whole lesson in scold- 

 ing. She knew that it was high time for her to be back there on the nest, and, 

 besides, evening was fast settling her twilight shades upon the grape-vine. 

 Wonderful instinct it is that makes each little mother bird know how long her 

 nest may safely be left. In the middle of the day, when the sun was shining, 



