The Rambles of an Idler 



in a green-brier tangle, I heard a shrill cry that 

 puzzled me. Before I had forgotten it, chance 

 solved the mystery. My dog ran down a weasel 

 in the grass and wounded it. When I came up, 

 it gave the loud, shrill cry that when previously 

 heard I could not identify. In this case, it was 

 distinctly a cry of distress, but is it always that? 

 Cram mentions a weasel "uttering a sharp 

 chirp like the alarm notes of certain species of 

 warblers," but the sound I heard was a shrill 

 che-ee-ep! twice or thrice repeated. 



Recently, in a single ramble along the hill- 

 side, my companion and I found one nest each 

 of a yellow-breasted chat, a cardinal grosbeak 

 and a summer warbler. There was no attempt 

 at concealment in any one instance. If a cow 

 had nibbled off a few leaves, the nest would 

 have been exposed even more, and such an oc- 

 currence is quite possible. There were thickets 

 near by, no animal could have gotten through 

 so as to reach the nest, yet these were not made 

 use of, but instead a bush on the edge of wide 

 open spaces. It looked much like trusting to 

 luck, which is closely akin to being very foolish, 

 if not really the same thing. 



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