WILD PASTURES 



toward these pines, plumed like vassal 

 knights that rally to the support of 

 their overlord. 



On one of these pine islands on the 

 edge of the swamp an oven bird had 

 built her nest, and on this particular 

 night in June she was in much distress 

 because she could not get into it. The 

 oven bird builds a nest on the ground 

 among low bushes and vines, choosing 

 often a spot where pine needles are 

 scattered among the dead leaves. She 

 roofs this nest with care and dried 

 grass and builds a tunnel-like entrance 

 to it so that you may see neither the 

 eggs nor the bird sitting on them. You 

 may step on an oven bird's nest before 

 you will see it, even when looking for 

 it, and you may know for a certainty 

 that it is within a definite small patch 

 of ground, and yet hunt long before 

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