leaves of another tree near by. The next morning 
just after daylight, when she came to feed her 
young, a sad sight met her eyes. The nest was 
all pulled over on one side, and the baby king- 
birds were gone. | 
It is a very sorrowful sight to watch a pair of 
birds whose nest has just been robbed of their 
young. The kingbirds could not quite realize 
what had happened. The male bird especially 
seemed to be dazed, and did not appear to know 
what he was doing a good deal of the time. 
Several times that morning he caught insects 
that were flying by, and brought them to the 
nest; but there were no hungry little mouths there 
to receive them. 
Up in the house there was great sorrow also, 
for during the night the sad, pale-faced mother 
of little Edith had died. The kingbirds saw 
the little girl come out on the stone steps at 
the back of the house and sit there crying, while 
close to her breast she hugged the old gray cat, 
which seemed to be the only friend she had left 
in the world. Poor little Edith! The world 
seemed like a very dark place to her that morn- 
48 
