The birds all seem very happy; but I expect 

 they do not realize that there will not be any 

 cherries for them. They usually have such an 

 unlimited supply from several large trees that I 

 fear it will be a bitter disappointment when they 

 find no fruit, almost all the blossoms having "gone 

 blind," owing to the cold weather during the first 

 half of the month. The ground is now thickly 

 strewn with the flower-stalks. It seems very hard 

 that our beautiful songsters should have to sing 

 in vain and be deprived of their most cherished 

 " price of the orchestra." 



The starlings usually build in a greenhouse 

 chimney and in the hollow of a very old mulberry 

 stem. This year they have raised a brood in an old 

 hothouse boiler-pipe, three of which pipes form a 

 very stalwart tripod some eight or nine feet above 

 the ground, and upon which I am growing three 

 strong climbing roses. These are to be trained 

 up the center through a triangle at the top, 

 whence they can fall down and rampage at their 

 own sweet will without fear of breaking down 

 their support. It is not a sightly object at present 

 and invariably calls forth inquiry and comment 



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