MY BLUE GUM GROVE. 215 



grove a great deal, I never ran into but one 

 cobweb, and was conscious of the pleasant free- 

 dom from falling caterpillars. Moreover, I 

 never saw a lizard in the blue gums, though 

 dozens of them were to be seen about the oaks 

 and in the brush. 



It was a surprise to find so many feathered 

 folks living in the eucalyptus, and I took a 

 personal interest in each one of the inhabitants. 

 The first time we started to go up and down 

 the avenues we scared up a pair of turtle doves, 

 beautiful, delicately tinted gentle creatures, fit 

 tenants of the lovely grove. They did not know 

 my friendly interest in them, and flew to the 

 ground trailing and trying to decoy me away 

 in such a marked manner that when we passed 

 a young dove a few yards farther on, it was easy 

 to put two and two together. 



Yellow-birds called cheet f -tee, ca-cheet f -ta-tee, 

 and the grove became musical with the sweet 

 calls of the young brood. There was one nest 

 with a roof of shaggy bark, and I wondered if 

 the birds thought it would be pleasant to live 

 under a roof, or whether the bark had fallen 

 down on them after they built. I could get no 

 trace of the owners of the nest, and it troubled 

 me, not liking to have any little homes in my 

 wood that I did not know all about. As we went 

 down one aisle, a big bird went blundering out 

 ahead of us, probably an owl, for afterwards we 



