I a 2 BIRDS'-N£S TS. 



left it with much reluctance. The nest, which con- 

 tained three young birds nearly fledged, was placed 

 upon the ground, at the foot of the stump, and in such 

 a position that the color of the young harmonized per- 

 fectly with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about. 

 My eye rested upon them for the second time before I 

 made them out. They hugged the nest very closely, 

 but as I put down my hand they all scampered off 

 with loud cries for help, which caused the parent birds 

 to place themselves almost within my reach. The 

 nest was merely a little dry grass arranged in a thick 

 bed of dry leaves. 



This was amid a thick undergrowth. Moving on 

 into a passage of large stately hemlocks, with only 

 here and there a small beech or maple rising up into 

 the perennial twilight, I paused to make out a note 

 which was entirely new to me. It is still in my ear. 

 Though unmistakably a bird note, it yet suggested the 

 bleating of a tiny lambkin. Presently the birds ap- 

 peared, — a pair of the solitary vireo. They came flit- 

 ting from point to point, alighting only for a moment 

 at a time, the male silent, but the female uttering this 

 strange, tender note. It was a rendering into some 

 new sylvan dialect of the human sentiment of maidenly 

 love. It was really pathetic in its sweetness and child- 

 like confidence and joy. I soon discovered that the 

 pair were building a nest upon a low branch a few 

 yards from me. The male flew cautiously to the spot, 

 and adjusted something, and the twain moved on, the 



