AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 187 



THE NEST IN THE MEADOW. 



By Bertha Currier Porter. 



"Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! Oh, how pretty you are," sang little father 

 Song Sparrow to his mate in the grass. He was swinging on the top- 

 most twig of the apple tree, and she was very busy down on the ground 

 below. The apple tree stood near the shore of the lake, in a big 

 meadow, through which ran a tiny brook. A long plank walk led down 

 to the lake from the farm house up on the road, and just where the walk 

 crossed the brook, mother Song Sparrow was building her nest. It 

 was in the grass, on the sloping bank, and was completely covered by 

 a little blackberry bush that grew there. It was so well hidden that 

 even the big girls, who scoured the fields for birds' nests, had failed to 

 find it, though they came down the plank walk half a dozen times a day. 



"See! see! see! Oh, how stupid they are," father Song Sparrow would 

 sing scornfully, as they went by again and again and never suspected 

 what the blackberry bush was hiding. But at last the little' mother 

 made a sad mistake, there were five brown speckled eggs in the nest 

 now, and she was so anxious about her babies. The big girls were 

 coming down the plank walk, and as she heard their steps nearer and 

 nearer she became panic-stricken, flew right off the nest and up into 

 the apple tree, where she sat and scolded violently; "Go away, go 

 away!" she said, but the big girls did not go away, for now they knew 

 there must be a nest not far off. So down on their knees they went, 

 and hunted carefully for a long time till at last one gave a shriek of joy, 

 "Oh! I see it! Look! Look! Isn't it lovely?" They held the blackberry 

 bush back and looked at the dear little straw cradle with the five spotted 

 brown eggs. At last they went away, and mother Song Sparrow came 

 back to cuddle her babies and keep them warm. 



After this she was very timid. When she heard footsteps coming 

 down the plank walk she would fly off the nest in a great hurry. Never 

 straight to the apple tree now. No indeed, once was enough for that! 

 Right under the plank walk she went, and when she came out it was 

 many feet farther up on the other side. Then she flew along in the 

 grass, across the walk and back to the apple tree. One day she was 

 taken by surprise and forgot herself, so that instead of flying under the 

 walk she fluttered right on to it and hopped along in front of the big 

 girls for ever so far. 



The awful small boy was the only one who knew of the nest besides 

 the big girls and the mighty man. He was a good man, because, one 

 day when the awful boy had discovered the five speckled eggs and was 

 rejoicing in wicked glee, the mighty man told him "he'd shake the 



