impudence and swagger, there is something so 

 bright and lively that I never find him really 

 tiresome. But the ehebecs come back very 

 early in spring, and sit around for days and 

 days, catching flies, and jerking their heads and 

 calling, Chebec! chebec! chebec! till you wish their 

 heads would snap off. 



In the tree next to the chebec's was a brood 

 of robins. The crude nest was wedged care- 

 lessly into the lowest fork of the tree, so that 

 the cats and roving boys could help themselves 

 without trouble. The mother sputtered and 

 worried and scolded without let-up, trying to 

 make good her foolishness in fixing upon such a 

 site by abundance of anxiety and noise. 



The fussiest, least sensible mother among 

 the birds is the robin. Any place for her nest 

 but a safe one ! The number of young robins 

 annually sacrificed to pure parental careless- 

 ness is appalling. The female chooses the 

 site for the home, and her ability for blunder- 

 ing upon unattractive and exposed locations 

 amounts to genius. She insists upon building 

 on the sand. Usually the rain descends, the 

 floods come, the winds blow, and there is a fall. 

 [84] 



