188 AMERIOAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



stuffing out of him if he touched that nest," Father Song Sparrow- 

 heard this and flew down to tell the little mother. So, after that, when 

 the mighty man went by, she sat calmly on the eggs and never moved 

 a feather. 



One day mother Song Sparrow left the nest for a few minutes, and 

 when she came back one of the tiny brown eggs was gone. She hunted 

 all over the bank and in the brook to see if it could have rolled out, but 

 she could not find it. She looked up the plank walk, and there was the 

 awful small boy running away as fast as he could. The mighty man 

 was up in the field getting sods, and the small boy had at last found his 

 opportunity to steal one of the eggs. After that mother Song Sparrow 

 stayed close to the nest, only going down the bank to the brook to 

 drink. For now there were suspicious movements in the little brown 

 eggs which made her more careful than ever. 



One morning she found three tiny birds, and only one egg left. Then 

 they were four, and such wee litttle babies as they were! They had no 

 feathers, only a bit of brown fuzz here and there. Their eyes were not 

 open but their mouths were, and they were very great mouths for such 

 very little birds. Father Song Sparrow did not have so much time to 

 swing in the apple tree now, he was busy hunting food for the babies, 

 and mother Song Sparrow was even busier. It took a great deal of 

 food to fill those four gaping little mouths, and when the babies finally 

 went to sleep at night it was a tired little mother that brooded over 

 them and a weary little father that tucked his head under his wing and 

 slept in the apple tree. 



The babies grew fast and soon the feathers began to show. But you 

 would never have suspected they were feathers, for each one was done 

 up in a long round sheath so that the little birds looked as if they were 

 covered with tiny quills. At last these burst, and there were the four 

 babies all dressed in brown like father and mother. Their mouths did 

 not look quite so big now, but it took even more food to fill them. 

 Mother Song Sparrow was a very proud little mother indeed, and as for 

 father Song Sparrow, he flew all over the neighborhood telling of the 

 fine family under the blackberry bush in the meadow. It would have 

 been better if he had not told so many people, but he never dreamed of 

 danger, nor did he know that one day as he sat singing to the Indigo 

 bird, old mother skunk and her three babies were listening, safe hidden 

 away where no one could find them, 



"Come! Come! Come! See how pretty they are! There! There! 

 There! Down by the old plank walk! Safe! Safe! Safe! Under the 

 blackberry bush!" sang little father Song Sparrow, swelling his throat 

 and swaying back and forth on the tree, while old mother skunk listened 



