70 OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS. 
that are within, despair for fear they will never get 
out.” 
Did you ever stand at the window when it is raining 
and wonder what the birds do without umbrellas? Of 
course you have, but you are a little mistaken if you 
suppose they do not have umbrellas and_ parasols. 
Their umbrellas are all about, in the trees and fence 
corners and bushes, just where they are needed. 
See the birds cuddle under a bunch of leaves during 
a smart shower. See them hunt for the shadiest places 
when the sun shines warm. Of course they do not 
carry their umbrellas about with them, tucked under 
their arms, but they fly quickly to places where they 
are sure the umbrellas are to be found. 
Once in February a humming-bird built her frail 
little nest close to the path on the low limb of a tree 
in our yard. Now this eucalyptus tree was very nearly 
a hundred feet high, and we wondered that the bird 
built so near the ground, when she might have been so 
far above. We liked to fancy that she suspected we 
would not harm her, and that we might possibly help 
her some if she should happen to be in trouble. She 
was right, for we did help her in a way we could not 
have done had she built her nest in the top of the tree. 
A fierce hail storm came down from the mountains, 
and we knew the eggs would be destroyed if we did 
not protect them. There sat the tiny mother on her 
frail nest, the great drops of water running off from 
the point of her slender bill and down over her soft, 
