. 
A WIDOW AND TWINS. db 65 
advice as to a location, I could hardly have 
suggested one better suited to my own con- 
venience. The tree was within a stone’s toss 
of my window, and, better still, the nest was 
overlooked to excellent advantage from an 
old bank wall which divided my premises 
from those of my next-door neighbor. How 
could I doubt that Providence itself had set 
me a summer lesson? 
At our first visit the discoverer of the nest 
—from that moment an _ ornithologist — 
brought out a step-ladder, and we looked in 
upon the two tiny white eggs, considerately 
improving a temporary absence of the owner 
for that purpose. It was a picture to please 
not only the eye, but the imagination; and 
before I could withdraw my gaze the mother 
bird was back again, whisking about my 
head so fearlessly that for a moment I stood 
still, half expecting her to drop into the nest 
within reach of my hand. 
This, as I have said, was on the 24th of 
June. Six days later, on the afternoon of 
the 30th, the eggs were found to be hatched, 
and two lifeless-looking things lay in the 
bottom of the nest, their heads tucked out 
of sight, and their bodies almost or quite 
