THE TRAGEDIES OF THE NESTS. 83 



one by searching find a bird's nest ? I overshot the 

 mark ; the nest was much nearer me, almost under 

 my very nose, and I discovered it, not by searching, 

 but by a casual glance of the eye, while thinking of 

 other matters. The bird was just settling upon it as 

 I looked up from my book and caught her in the act. 

 The nest was built near the end of a long, knotty, 

 horizontal branch of an apple-tree, but effectually hid- 

 den by the grouping of the leaves ; it had three eggs, 

 one of which proved to be barren. The two young 

 birds grew apace, and were out of the nest early in 

 the second week ; but something caught one of them 

 the first night. The other probably grew to maturity, 

 as it disappeared from the vicinity with its parents 

 after some days. 



The blue-back's nest was scarcely a foot from the 

 ground, in a little bush situated in a low, dense wood 

 of hemlock and beech and maple amid the Catskills, 

 a deep, massive, elaborate structure, in which the 

 sitting bird sank till her beak and tail alone were visi- 

 ble above the brim. It was a misty, chilly day when 

 I chanced to find the nest, and the mother-bird knew 

 instinctively that it was not prudent to leave her four 

 half incubated eggs uncovered and exposed for a mo- 

 ment. When I sat down near the nest she grew very 

 uneasy, and after trying in vain to decoy me away by 

 suddenly dropping from the branches and dragging 

 herself over the ground as if mortally wounded, she 

 approached and timidly and half doubtingly covered 

 her eggs within two yards of where I sat. I dis- 



