A LIN E A I) A V 



poplar grove on the island. It is a tradition on the countryside. 

 This year we found a couple of cedar birds had gone to housekeep- 

 ing close to the path, only about ten feet from the ground. As the 

 nest was placed in a tangle of wild grape, it was difficult to push 

 the long-handled mirror in far enough to see the downy bodies of 

 the babies. We watched the feeding, the different approaches of 

 the parents, and the cleaning of the nest, this last being usually 

 done by Madame alone. 



We went in solemn procession at about half-past nine one even- 

 ing to see where the cedar birds slept. The man with the step 

 ladder first, the Bird-Lady carrying the lantern, and I, tagging on, 

 io-norant but enthusiastic. How unfamiliar everv bush and tree 



O 



and vine looked in that flickering light! I began to have a fell<>\\ 

 feeling with the wide-eyed little maiden on the stairway " where 

 bears are so liable to follow one." If a rabbit had leaped across 

 the path or an owl hooted, I know I should have turned and fled to 

 the safe shelter of the house; but everything was perfectly silent. 

 Down the path and over the bridge, quietly creeping up to the 

 poplar tree, we turned the light of the lantern upward. There 

 sat the father and mother birds on the nest, keeping the three little 

 ones warm beneath them. 



Later on there was a big wind storm, and in the morning but 

 one little cedar-bird was left in the nest. We could hear the other 

 babies calling like locusts, in the grass, but find them we could not; 



we finally made up our minds that we must take pity on the neg- 



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