50 STORIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



sticks and grass plastered and lined with clay, 

 you know, the commonest kind that you see. 

 For some strange reason we have partly for- 

 gotten the law that Heart of Nature gave us for 

 the hiding of our nests, or the exact spot where it 

 is best to place them. So you will find them 

 everywhere, in bushes near the ground, and in 

 tall treetops. 



" This year I have had very poor luck," sighed 

 the Robin. " My mate is a young bird, and it was 

 her first experience in housekeeping. Her family 

 lived in the Miller's grape arbour, so to please her 

 we located our first nest there. We were rather 

 hurried in building, owing to some heavy rain- 

 storms, and we did not realize, until the nest was 

 done and one green-blue egg laid, that we had 

 chosen an open place where no vine leaves would 

 grow to shelter our young. 



" That same afternoon, as I was returning home, 

 I chanced to look ahead. There, stalking through 

 the grass toward the nest, was Tiger, the Miller's 

 cat ! To me- she seemed as big and savage as 

 Rufus Lynx, the mountain wild cat." 



(" I quite agree with you," growled Waddles, 

 under his breath.) 



" He lashed his tail and lifted his paws so care- 

 fully that the grass did not even suspect his com- 



