XII. 



A MEADOW NEST. 



A BIRD'S nest in the middle of a meadow is as 

 isolated as if on an island; for the most eager 

 bird student, though he may look and long 

 afar off, will hesitate before he harrows the soul 

 of the owner of the fair waving sea of grass 

 by trampling it down. In such a secure place, 

 among scattered old apple-trees, a pair of veeries 

 had set up their household, surrounded and pro- 

 tected from every enemy who does not wear 

 wings. 



They were late in nesting, for young veeries 

 were out everywhere. Doubtless the first home 

 had been destroyed, and they had selected this 

 retreat in the midst of the tall grass for its se- 

 clusion and apparent safety. 



What dismay, then, must have filled the heart 

 of the timid creatures when there arrived, one 

 morning, a party of men and horses and ma- 

 chines, who proceeded at once, with the clatter 

 and confusion which follows the doings of men, 

 to lay low their green protecting walls, and ex- 

 pose their cherished treasures to the greed or the 



