Comedy and Tragedy 101 



hoped were spared from the dangers of both field and 

 flood. 



Chipping sparrows, robins, catbirds, bluejays, and many 

 of the other bird species which seek man's society do not 

 resent a certain amount of prying into their household affairs. 

 None of the birds named will think of deserting its home 

 simply because you take a daily peep at the eggs or occasion- 

 ally undertake to help the parent birds out in the matter of 

 feeding the young. Confidence when once established is 

 lasting. There are some birds, however, which occasionally 

 build under the shadow of our walls who resent human curi- 

 osity and will desert their nests at the first apparance of sup- 

 posed danger. The rose-breasted grosbeak frequently builds 

 in the garden or in the trees that shadow the sidewalks. The 

 rose-breast is a beauty. His life in the spring is one continu- 

 ous song. As someone has put it, he wears a blush rose 

 in his button-hole, and is the Beau Brummel of the birds. The 

 rose-breasts build a flimsy nest. It has but little more stabil- 

 ity than the nest of the mourning dove. They are as jealous, 

 however, of approach to the little home as though it had 

 taken a lifetime in its rearing. When a pair of the birds 

 build near the house they must not be allowed to know that 

 the nesting site has been discovered. If they see a person 

 looking at their home they will often desert instanter. A 

 pair of robins built a nest in a tree directly in front of the 

 residence of a bird-loving friend. One day he saw some 

 school-boys trying to climb the tree to get at the robin's nest. 

 He drove the boys away. A few days afterward he discov- 

 ered that a rose-breasted grosbeak was building its nest in the 

 tree not far above the home of the robin. Then the fear 

 came that the boys would come back and ravage both nests. 



