V. 



WHEN NESTING IS OVER. 



" When the birds fly past 



And the chimes ring fast 

 And the long spring shadows sweet shadow cast," 



comes the most attractive time of year to the 

 bird -lover, the baby-days, when the labors 

 and anxieties of the nest being over, proud 

 and happy parents bring forward their tender 

 younglings all unused to the ways of the 

 world, and carry on their training before our 

 eyes. 



First to come upon the scene of the summer's 

 studies was the brown thrush family. For some 

 time the head of the household had made the 

 grove a regular resting place in his daily round. 

 He always entered in silence, alighted on the 

 lowest limb of a tree, and hopped lightly, step 

 by step, to the top, where he sang softly a few 

 delightful and tantalizing strains. In a mo- 

 ment he dropped to the ground, uttering a liquid 

 note or two as he went, and threw into his work 

 of digging among the dead leaves the same sup- 

 pressed vehemence he had put into his song. 



