82 Twelve Months With 



discern the geography of the field which he had 

 selected as a fit place for his nest? I have often 

 seen field birds, after heavy rains, which inundated 

 the low places in the meadows fluttering over the 

 water, as if puzzling their little brains to locate the 

 nest which was covered with water, or sitting dis- 

 consolate on a bush or tuft of grass near by appar- 

 ently confused and dumb with grief at the 

 inexplicable tragedy which had befallen them. 



After the heavy rains, which I have mentioned, 

 had abated I found many broken eggs and dead 

 young birds in the grass and on the sidewalks under 

 the trees. I also found, ten days or two weeks 

 later, new nests which were evidently built to 

 replace those destroyed, because they were later 

 than the normal nesting dates of the birds. 



Shortly before the high water came I found the 

 nest of a catbird with four eggs in a wild goose- 

 berry bush in a small grove in the valley of the 

 Desplaines River. When, after the storm, I took 

 my young son to see the nest, we found ourselves 

 unable to get to it on account of the water which 

 entirely surrounded it. Fortunately the nest was 

 high enough to escape the flood which surged 

 beneath, and if the mother bird kept the rain and 

 wind from destroying the nest, the little family 

 doubtless prospered. 



The catbird is a really fine singer, whose song 

 resembles that of the brown thrasher, to whose 

 family (troglodytidae) he belongs. But as he 

 usually lazily contents himself with his cat-like 



