BIRDS'-NESTS. 149 



became much alarmed as I approached a 

 crumbling old stump in a dense part of the 

 forest. He alighted upon it, chirped sharply, 

 ran up and down its sides, and finally left it 

 with much reluctance. The nest, which con- 

 tained three young birds nearly fledged, was 

 placed upon the ground, at the foot of the 

 stump, and in such a position that the color 

 of the young harmonized perfectly with the 

 bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about. My 

 eye rested upon them for the second time 

 before I made them out. They hugged the 

 nest very closely, but as I put down my 

 hand they scampered off with loud cries for 

 help, which caused the parent birds to place 

 themselves almost within my reach. The 

 nest was merely a little dry grass arranged 

 in a thick bed of dry leaves. 



This was amid a thick undergrowth. Mov- 

 ing on into a passage of large, stately hem- 

 locks, with only here and there a small beech 

 or maple rising up into the perennial twi- 

 light, I paused to make out a note which was 

 entirely new to me. It is still in my ear. 

 Though unmistakably a bird note, it yet 

 suggested the bleating of a tiny lambkin. 

 Presently the birds appeared, a pair of 

 the solitary vireo. They came flitting from 



