FRIENDS IN FEATHERS 



THE JAY NEST IN THE ELM 



Sky-larks from the wheat fields hung over it, their notes of 

 piercing sweetness ringing constantly; Song Sparrows were 

 piping from the fence, while bees droned over beds of calamus in 

 one corner or paid shorter visits to blue-eyed Marys and white 

 violets sprinkled all along the west side, where they had the 

 benefit of shade and moisture from the adjoining woods. The 

 Jay could be heard long before he could be seen. He recognized 

 the carriage as something new, so he sounded an alarm, until he 

 put every bird of the orchard on guard by the time his fence- 

 corner was located. 



The Jays had set their nest on a limb of the elm which made 

 a substantial foundation, so studies of it could be made from a 



294 



