a while they flew away, but soon came back again, and re- 

 newed their chirping little talk, looking all over and through 

 me as they did so. I soon began to understand the matter 

 the little birds were considering. The time had come for 

 them to build a nest, and they were looking for a good, safe 

 place to locate their summer residence. Their decision at last 

 was in my favor, and at once they went to work building their 

 bridal house, which was soon completed. It was a deep, cup- 

 shaped little thing, suspended in some way from one of my 

 small b'ranches. Then it was not long before I saw in the 

 nest four beautiful tiny eggs, white in color, with some specks 

 of reddish brown, and next I heard the faint chirpings of the 

 baby birds. And now papa and mamma bird got very busy. 

 Not a bug or worm of any kind dared to appear on any of 

 my leaves or branches that was not seized at once by the 

 parent birds and fed to their babies. I took almost as much 

 interest in these helpless little things as if they were my very 

 own, and would carefully bend my twigs and leaves so as to 

 shield them from the rain and the dew and the sometimes too 

 prying ardent rays of the sun. But the time came at last 

 when the young birds crawled up to the edge of the nest, 

 and, after fluttering their wings a while, finally flew away. 

 But for several successive years the parent birds, or some of 

 their family, came every summer and built their nest on me 

 and reared a new brood. And my being so healthy and vig- 

 orous when young is largely owing, I think, to the fact that 

 during all the years these little birds made their summer home 

 with me, they utterly destroyed all mean worms and insects 

 of every kind that might have gnawed and injured my leaves 

 and branches. If my little friends owed me any rent, they 

 paid it many times over, by these friendly and helpful acts. 

 But as the years went on, I became too tall and high to afford 

 them a fitting home, and so they ceased coming to me, and 

 built their nests in smaller bushes. Their places, though, were 

 taken by bigger birds, and I may say something about those 

 after a while. 



"My friends the crows, who traveled far and wide, had 

 told me that at a great distance away, in the direction of both 



9 



