AN OWL'S HEAD HOLIDAY. 269 



nest within twenty feet of the hotel), drippers, 

 song sparrows, snow - birds, robins, waxwings, 

 and phoBbes were to be seen almost any mo- 

 ment, while the hermit thrushes, as I have be- 

 fore mentioned, paid us occasional visits. The 

 most familiar of our door-yard friends, however, 

 to my surprise, were the yellow-rumped war- 

 blers. Till now I had never found them at 

 home except in the forests of the White Moun- 

 tains ; but here they were, playing the rdle 

 which in Massachusetts we are accustomed to 

 see taken by the summer yellow-birds, and by 

 no others of the family. At first, knowing that 

 this species was said to build in low evergreens, 

 I looked suspiciously at some small spruces 

 which lined the walk to the pier ; but after a 

 while I happened to see one of the birds flying 

 into a rock-maple with something in his bill, and 

 following him with my eye, beheld him alight 

 on the edge of his nest. "About four feet 

 from the ground," the book said (the latest 

 book, too) ; but this lawless pair had chosen a 

 position which could hardly be less than ten 

 times that height, considerably higher, at all 

 events, than the eaves of the three-story house. 

 It was out of reach in the small topmost 

 branches, but I watched its owners at my leis- 

 ure, as the maple was not more than two rods 

 from my window. At this time the nestlings 



