Professor Forbes has shown that the 

 OHve-backed Thrush is a useful bird. 

 Examining the stomach of a large num- 

 ber of individuals captured during vari- 

 ous seasons, he found that sixty-two per 



centum of its food consisted of insects 

 and thirty-five per centum of fruits. 

 Nearly three-fourths of the fruit con- 

 sumed consisted of wild grapes. 



THE BUDDING WOODS. 



I love the woods — the budding woods, 

 Where Nature sports her happiest moods ; 

 Where filtered sunshine tints the leaves 

 With tend'rest hues ; where Maytime weaves 

 With lavish hand and blithesome heart 

 Bright flower garlands ; swift wings dart 

 Among the trees, and joyous song 

 Bursts from a myriad throats among 

 The pillared arches, echoing loud; 

 While trembling glints of trailing cloud 

 Above this leafy roof appear. 

 As dawns the morning of the yeai 

 Upon the woods — the budding woods. 



Sara Elizabeth Graves. 



BLACK BEARD OF THE BIG SWAMP. 



Beneath a thick clump of huckleberry 

 hushes, near the Big Swamp in "Indian 

 Wood," one day in the early spring, a 

 wild turkey-hen had made her nest. But 

 so unfrequented was the spot, and so well 

 hidden the rude structure of leaves and 

 straw, that no human eye was likely to 

 behold it ; and even then, the turkey had 

 such a way of blending with the sur- 

 roundings as to appear, save under close 

 inspection, but a blackened stump or a 

 ■charred pine-knot. As for dogs and 

 other prowling creatures, whose acute 

 smell brooked no deception, she could 

 easily save her speckled treasure by lead- 

 ing them a fruitless chase through the 

 adjoining swamp. 



The complaining ye-onk of her pom- 

 pous mate could be heard from morn till 

 night. And of him, too, as well as of 

 natural foes, she had the nesting-fear; 

 for, enraged at her desertion of him, he 



would not hesitate to destroy the precious 

 eggs. 



Up and down the forest, through bog 

 and brake, along the sheltered edges of 

 the clearings, the gobbler yelped with all 

 his might, and mellowness, of tone ; but 

 the hen kept silent. 



As the days passed, dangers, not a 

 few, threatened the old hen under the 

 huckleberry bush. Deer-hounds and 

 fox-hounds swept by in clamorous 

 packs ; but, by singular good fortune, 

 none touched the exact precious spot. 

 Perhaps, after all, however, this was 

 partly due to the influence of a certain 

 blackberry briar a few feet beyond the 

 nest. (A hound never hunts too fast to 

 dodge a briar.) One night, not long 

 after these incidents, a gray dog-fox 

 came stealing silently as a shadow 

 through the undergrowth. Suddenly he 

 stopped and sniffed; then dashed 



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