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EYE-BEAMS 125 



by a bunch of grapes. How long she held her ground 

 I do not know ; probably till the fruit began to press 

 heavily upon her. 



IV 

 A POOR FOUNDATION 



It is a curious habit the wood thrush has of start- 

 ing its nest with a fragment of newspaper or other 

 paper. Except in remote woods, I think it nearly 

 always puts a piece of paper in the foundation of its 

 nest. Last spring I chanced to be sitting near a 

 tree in which a wood thrush had concluded to build. 

 She came with a piece of paper nearly as large as my 

 hand, placed it upon the branch, stood upon it a 

 moment, and then flew down to the ground. A 

 little puff of wind caused the paper to leave the 

 branch a moment afterward. The thrush watched 

 it eddy slowly down to the ground, when she seized 

 it and carried it back. She placed it in position as 

 before, stood upon it again for a moment, and then 

 flew away. Again the paper left the branch, and 

 sailed away slowly to the ground. The bird seized 

 it again, jerking it about rather spitefully, I thought; 

 she turned it around two or three times, then labored 

 back to the branch with it, upon which she shifted 

 it about as if to hit upon some position in which it 

 Avould lie more securely. This time she sat down 

 upon it for a moment, and then went away, doubt- 

 less with the thought in her head that she would 

 bring something to hold it down. The perverse 

 paper followed her in a few seconds. She seized it 



