STRANGE BED-FELLOWS 



"Well," said Ned, "I should think that such strange 

 bed-fellows would get to fighting, but I suppose that 

 they don't realize that they are in such close quarters." 



This scientific discourse grew so absorbing that, as 

 we approached the railroad track I forgot to "look out 

 for the engine," as the old signs used to say. Just as 

 we were about to cross, I saw the evening express train 

 swiftly rushing down upon us, only a few rods away. I 

 had to think quickly what to do. If I stopped right 

 there, the horse would certainly shy down the embank- 

 ment, though, of course, we could jump out. But I 

 thought we could get across barely in time, so I plied 

 the whip, and with a leap we went flying over, having 

 just a few yards to spare as the train thundered past. 

 We were so much excited that we forgot all about the 

 Coccyges and set to berating the engineer for not having 

 blown the whistle on approaching the grade crossing. 

 But birds are very fascinating, and ornithology was not 

 knocked out of us for very long, though we resolved to 

 put prudence ahead of it in future when crossing the 

 railroad track. And now that we are safely escaped 

 we will return to the cuckoos. 



The nest which I had just found was in a dense 

 thicket of bushes, a few rods back from the road which 

 passed near the pond, and about opposite the latter. 

 It was the seventh of June, and we were tramping about 

 in a large tract of scrub and briers, searching for birds' 

 nests. For some time we had had no especial luck, 

 until, as I poked my head into this particular thicket, 



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