A day's outing in seaech of the aebutus. 57 



While we were resting on a steep, mossy bank near 

 the highway and railroad crossing, a Hudsonian spar- 

 row appeared much disturbed at our prolonged stay, 

 and chirped in that sharp tone peculiar to this sparrow. 

 These birds were very plentiful near the home of my 

 boyhood, and 1 knew well their ''tricks and their 

 manners," so I began at once to search for the cause of 

 the disturbance. The female soon flew up from her 

 nest in the side of the bank on which we had been sit- 

 ting. The four eggs, beautiful as pearls, with pure 

 white groundwork thickly dotted with brown, were 

 rounder than the eggs of other sparrows. The nests, 

 too, excel in workmanship and material those of any 

 others of the genus. This nest was deep, and thickly 

 lined with the softest of materials — a gem of architect- 

 ure. A flat stone half a foot square, and held in phice 

 by an oak root, projected over the entrance to the nest, 

 forming a perfect veranda, and completely shielding it 

 from rain and shine. Fortunate, indeed, the httle birds 

 to be cradled in such a " lap of luxury ! " These slate- 

 colored juncos are conspicuous by their many white quills 

 and feathers, and by their flesh-colored feet and bills. 



The lengthened shadows reminded us that there were 

 other haunts of old acquaintances nearer the hotel 3''et 

 to be visited. Among them were two pairs of phebes 

 that have nested in the hotel barn for several years 

 past. They have been intimate acquaintances, and I 

 have watched them many a day from a seat in the 

 spacious and pleasant old barn. None of them had yet 

 returned. Last summer a young man, to show his cun- 



