A SILVER-TONGUED FAMILY 



113 



seashore. For this reason he makes his home all 

 through the Northern States, from tlie Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, following the mountains southward, and mak- 

 ing long summer excursions to Labrador, Hudson Bay, 

 and even Alaska. 



" What stories of wild beasts he might tell us if he 

 Avould ! For he looks 

 out of his nest of 

 grass, moss, bark, 

 and rootlets, to 

 see moose browsino- 

 among the young 

 trees, and hears 

 black bears 

 growling. His 

 bird companions 

 are Snowbirds, 

 Horned Larks, 

 Crossbills, and 

 Pine Gi'osbeaks; 

 and he trembles 

 lest the Great 

 Gray Owl shall 

 find his nest- 

 lings. 



" But much as he loves cool weather for nest-building, 

 he tires of it when the first frost touches the valleys, 

 and snow caps the tops of his favorite mountains ; for 

 then his insect food grows scarce. So he changes his 

 summer habits ; leaving the guild of Ground Gleaners, 

 and becoming a Seed Sower, he follows the sun toward 

 the tropics, where, likely enough, he tells the alligators 

 I 



Olive-backed Thrush. 



