80 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



nest come tumbling to the ground. But all 

 went well in those airy regions, and never were 

 two robins happier, if we can judge by their 

 actions. When the nest was finished and prob- 

 ably an egg or two laid, the end came. I hap- 

 pened to be out of doors in the night, and, 

 while looking at the tree-tops darkly limned 

 against the moonlit sky, saw an owl floating 

 in mid-air like a black cloud. Suddenly it 

 swooped down. The robins screamed, and 

 then there was death-like silence. One of the 

 birds was seized, the other was frightened from 

 its home, and the deserted nest remains a 

 monument to their folly. What advantage 

 there could be in a nest in such a position is 

 not demonstrable. True, we do not see the 

 world with a bird's eyes, but we are supposed 

 to have a keener mental if not physical vision, 

 and we must think that the birds blundered. 

 They of course had a purpose in building 

 where they did, but lacked foresight to the 

 extent of not realizing possible disadvantages. 

 Do such birds, escaping death, profit by experi- 

 ence, or repeat their folly? Probably, with 

 them, thought-transference does not go far 



