"PAUPERIZING'' A BIRD. 61 



shot by man or boy, robbed by beast or bird or 

 liumaii, it was plain I had seen the last of the 

 thorn-tree family ; for I knew positively that in 

 that hour no one had gone to or come from the 

 nest, and I was sure, from my knowledge of her, 

 that the sitting bird would not remain an hour 

 without eating, even if her mate had stayed 

 away so long. Of course, I concluded, that girl 

 had told her discovery, and some boy had heard, 

 and broken up the home. I looked carefully on 

 every side. The nest seemed undisturbed, but 

 not a sign of life appeared about it, and sadly 

 enough I folded my chair and went back to the 

 village. 



Six days passed, in which I avoided going up 

 the lonely road, the scene of my disappointment, 

 but I turned my attention to bird affairs in the 

 town. One case which interested me greatly 

 was of " pauperizing " a bird. It was a least 

 flycatcher, and her undoing was her acceptance 

 of nesting material, which her human friend, the 

 oft-mentioned local bird-lover, supplied. To se- 

 cure a unique nest for herself, when the fly- 

 catcher babies should have abandoned it, this 

 wily personage, who was the accepted providence 

 of half the birds in the vicinity, and on terms of 

 great familiarity with some of them, threw out 

 narrow strips of cloth of various colors, to tempt 

 the small nest-builder. At first the wise little 



