BIRDS'-NESTS. 139 



safe from the minks and the skunks, and well housed 

 from the storms. In my native town I know a pine 

 and oak clad hill, round-topped, with a bold, precipi- 

 tous front extending half-way around it. Near the 

 top, and along this front or side, there crops out a 

 ledge of rocks unusually high and cavernous. One 

 immense layer projects many feet, allowing a person 

 or many persons, standing upright, to move freely be- 

 neath it. There is a delicious spring of water there, 

 and plenty of wild, cool air. The floor is of loose 

 stone, now trod by sheep and foxes, once by the Indian 

 and the wolf. How I have delighted from boyhood 

 to spend a summer-day in this retreat or take refuge 

 there from a sudden shower ! Always the freshness 

 and coolness, and always the delicate mossy nest of 

 the phoebe-bird ! The bird keeps her place till you 

 are within a few feet of her, when she flits to a near 

 branch, and, with many oscillations of her tail, ob- 

 serves you anxiously. Since the country has become 

 settled this pewee has fallen into the strange practice 

 of occasionally placing its nest under a bridge, hay- 

 shed, or other artificial structure, where it is subject 

 to all kinds of interruptions and annoyances. When 

 placed thus, the nest is larger and coarser. I know a 

 hay-loft beneath which a pair has regularly placed its 

 nest for several successive seasons. Arranged along 

 on a single pole, which sags down a few inches from 

 the flooring it was intended to help support, are three 

 of these structures, marking the number of years the 

 birds nave nested there. The foundation is of mud 



