winter bird, in the United States appear- 

 ing in the fall and flying away early in the 

 spring. Its name would indicate that it 

 was fond of trees, but this is not the case, 

 as it is usually seen on the ground and 

 even makes its nest there. 



There are many other members of the 

 sparrow family, but this is enough for to- 

 day. I hope that you will watch them 

 and try to become acquainted with all. 



Narcisia Lewis. 



MR. AND MRS. SPARROW'S BLUNDER. 



Many people suppose that the instinct 

 of birds and animals is never wrong, but 

 this is a mistake. I have often seen the 

 wild geese fly north over the western 

 prairies only to come squawking back in 

 a few days, to linger with us, if not go- 

 ing farther south, until the sun warmed 

 up the northland and they dared another 

 flight. 



Once my brother witnessed a most 

 amusing case of mistaken judgment 

 among birds. He had opened a store in 

 a northern town, and during the month 

 of March was much discouraged by the 

 continued cold weather. 



"O ! but spring's here!" exclaimed his 

 partner gleefully one bleak day. "See 

 those sparrows building a nest in our 

 eaves? That's a sure sign!" From that 

 on the two young men took great inter- 

 est in the new home going up under — or 

 rather over — their very ey.es. Each new 

 bit of rag or straw woven in was noted, 



and they even strewed cotton about in 

 handy places for the birds to use as "car- 

 peting in the mansion." 



But the weather did not improve, in 

 spite of the sparrow's prophecy ; instead 

 of that, a sleet set in one night, and 

 morning saw a most wintry-looking earth. 

 When the young men went down to open 

 up the store for business, they heard loud, 

 really angry, chirping coming from the 

 eaves. Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow were dis- 

 cussing something with energy, and 

 when at last a decision was reached they 

 both swooped down upon their almost fin- 

 ished nest and tore it all to pieces. Not 

 one twig or rag or straw was left in 

 place. When the destruction was com- 

 plete they gave a loud chirp of satisfac- 

 tion and flew off together, never to re- 

 turn. 



They had simply made a mistake in 

 their calendar. 



Lee McCrae. 



115 



