30 WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIRDS. 



nence ; but they soon found out that we were harmless, at 

 least, and grew reconciled. 



Many a calm hour we spent among the cool, dim aisles of the 

 mighty forests, still as the dark trunks around us, watching 

 now the Baltimore oriole with coy taste, select a twig to 

 hang her cradle from, and when her motherly care was sat- 

 isfied that a particular one hung clear beyond the reach of 

 the dreaded snake, or mischievous climbers, one and all, 

 that there was a tuft of leaves above it, which would pre- 

 cisely shield it from the noontide sun then commences her 

 airy fabric. 



How ingeniously she avails herself of the forks a'nd 

 notches to twist the first important thread around ! How 

 housewife-like she plaits and weaves the grassy fibres ! The 

 unmanageable horse-hair, too, is used ; how soberly she plies 

 her long, sharp bill and delicate feet ! Now she drops that 

 thread as too rotten to be trusted, and reprovingly sends off 

 her careless, chattering mate to get another. He is proud 

 of his fine coat, and dissipates his time in carolling ; but in 

 her prudent creed, sweet songs won't build a home for the 

 little folk, and so she very properly makes the idle fellow 

 work. 



At last, after a deal of sewing, webbing, roofing, and 

 scolding, too, tae while the house is finished, thatch, door, 

 and all. The softest velvet from the mullen stalk must 

 line it now ; and then elate upon the topmost bough, she si- 

 lently upturns her bill toward heaven, while her mate pours 

 forth their joy for labors done, in thrilling gushes ! 



In those old times, sitting upon a gnarled root, I would bend 

 for hours over some thronged city of the ants. Why, how 

 is this ? Here from the great entrance roads branch off on 

 every side. How clean, and smooth, and regular, they are ! 

 See, yonder is a dead limb fallen across the course. Amaze- 

 ment ! A tunnel ! A tunnel I they have sunk it beneath 

 the obstruction too heavy for the power of their mechanics I 

 Follow the winding track. See, that thick turf of grass ! It 



