426 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
“Sept. 6. Young birds, having found their voices, 
announced meal time with joyous twitter. They were 
fed, on an average, once in forty-five minutes and were 
now forming cleanly habits, ike young Swallows, void- 
ing excrement over the rim of the nest. 
“Sept. 8. The old bird no longer perching at the 
nest to feed her young, but on the branch, to lure them 
from their cradle. They shook their wings vigorously 
and preened their tiny feathers. 
“Sept. 11. Young Finches ventured to the edge of 
the nest and peered curiously into the unknown. 
“Sept. 11. An empty nest.” 
— Eis GILBERT Ives, in Bird-Lore. 
* * * * * * * 
“Tn spite of the rosy wing-linings and shield set above 
his white breast, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is the 
The Rose- least conspicuous of the Singers in Costume. 
breasted The reason for this is, that unless you are either 
Cane directly under or before him, the richly coloured 
breast may escape notice and only the dark back appear. 
Yet to one who knows birds, even the back will serve 
to name him, for no other familiar songster has so much 
black and white about him—black head and back, a 
white rump, black-and-white wings, and _black-and- 
white tail. 
“This Grosbeak delights in young woodlands where 
the trees are small and well branched, and the big, rather 
loosely woven nest of weeds, twigs, and various wood 
fibres is seldom placed as high as even the Robin’s or 
Tanager’s, and yet, in spite of the fact that female birds 
