THE OSPREY. 



149 



cradle her young-. Almost 

 of the bushes caused her to 

 pedieiiCY and noise. 



She and her faithful mate 

 heaped volumes of a n g' r v 

 abuse upon our heads, and 

 called in all their feathered 

 neif;hbors to help denounce 

 the bold intruders. 



This was in the evening" 

 of the 25th of May: the 

 sun being" unfavorable, 

 we decided to wait until to- 

 morrow to try a snap at the 

 nest. 



Great was our surprise, 

 the next morning", to find 

 instead of the four shining", 

 deep-g"reenish blue e g" g" s 

 three and a half dusky little 

 ])irdling"s, e x c e e d i n g- 1 y 

 homely, with all too weak a 

 neck to support the large 

 ung"ainly head. We hasti- 

 ly exposed two plates, and 

 secured two rather fair 

 neg"atives, one of which is 

 liere reproduced. 



The days which followed 

 added rapidly to the size of 

 the four h u n g" r y little 

 fellows, and, thank for- 

 tune, early cherries were 

 ripe at the time and plenti- 

 ful, and what was still bet- 

 ter, very near at hand, as 

 were the strawberries, 

 which two, I firmU' believe, 

 furnished nine-tenths of 

 the food offered the y<jung". 



Their increase was some- 

 thing" wonderful, as the 

 series of pictures, taken on 

 successive days will testify. 

 Owing to lack of space 

 we can only publish one 

 other, the last one taken 

 in the briers, on June 4th, 

 which is quite a contrast to 

 the first, the cup being- full 

 to overfiowing. On t h e 

 following" day, June Sth, 

 I found them scattered in 

 all directions, and I cap- 

 tured one of the little fel- 

 lows, who was about to 

 make a call on the inmates 

 of the house, and had been 

 fortunate enough not to be 

 welcomed by the cat. I 

 forced him to have his pic- 

 ture taken in divers poses. 

 After which I replaced him 

 in the nest, but he had 

 evidently bid this farewell 

 forever, for he at once set 

 out on new exploi-ations. 

 I am rather u n c e r t a i n 

 abou t the farther hist o r y 

 of the four inmates of that 



the first separating nest, and feel inclined to believe that they ceased 

 skip with g^reat ex- existence a day or two after, for, though I looked 

 for them very carefully everywhere, I failed 

 to detect any sign of them 

 whatever. The old birds 

 being present all the while. 

 The extremely rapid devel- 

 opment of these birds was 

 quite a surprise to me as 

 only ten days elapsed 

 between time of hatching 

 and leaving of the nest. 



The Chipping Sparrows 

 were more fortunate, they 

 raised their little flock of 

 four unmolested in their 

 hairy abode among the 

 closely compacked 

 branches and densely leafy 

 retreat of a small cedar, 

 which seemed to extend its 

 pointed needles against 

 every foe of the favored 

 birds, and now the pair 

 lead them about the yard. 

 Queer little bob-tailed fel- 

 lows they were at first, en- 

 tirely different from the 

 parents with their streaky 

 breasts and downy heads, 

 for the fuzzy juvenile garb 

 still clung to the tips of 

 their feathers when they 

 left their sheltei-ed home. 

 At present they are being- 

 taught to seek their o w n 

 food on the hillside 

 amongst the sparce vegeta- 

 tion. 



The Yellow Warblers did 

 not grieve long over the 

 irreparable loss which they 

 had sustained, but appar- 

 ently took matters philo- 

 sophically, and, being true 

 believers in the old adage. 

 "If at first you don't suc- 

 ceed, trv. try again," they 

 did try again. N o o n e 

 knows where they had sad- 

 dled their firm soft nest, 

 but now, they too are lead- 

 ing" their four pale yellow 

 offsprings from tree to tree 

 about the premises. I have 

 learned to love the little 

 Yellow Warbler more than 

 ever. He is so earnest, yet 

 joyful, and extremely anx- 

 ious about the little ones in 

 his care, which are ever 

 hungry, and which he is 

 supplying with food, but 

 with all his haste he finds 

 time to bestow a little 

 pleasantness upon his 

 equally busy spouse. I 

 ^^ ish that all men might 

 study him. I am sure that 

 if they all did and followed 



Effects of a clieny upon a ten day old Catbird. 



