break it off. We released it and felt 

 grateful for discovering it in time, 

 though a neighbor said: "What, ye 

 raising robins? Why, I kill every one 

 I see." 



But tragedies in bird life are many. 



Down by the brook and by the side 

 of the lane a nest was made and one 

 blue egg was laid; but we saw a tiger 

 cat sneaking, along the creek, and 

 Madam Robin came no more. Then from 

 a nest in an old log building, the wings 

 so soon to wend their way in flight, lay 

 scattered upon the floor. 



We are glad for other joyful friends 

 still left to us. Just over the yard fence 

 the blue jay's nest is safe in the russet 

 trees and just across, sways the nest of 

 the orchard oriole, swinging from above 

 and attached below, and which we think 

 was more than ten days in building. In 

 an adjoining tree, on a topmost branch, 

 the fly-catcher, mother king bird, has 

 gone to housekeeping. So while 

 mourning the robins' fate we still have 

 birds to cheer us and to admire and 

 love. 



Mrs. E. W. Brubaker. 



SCANDINAVIAN FOLK-LORE OF BIRDS OF PASSAGE. 



PART III. 



In Sweden and Norway, where the 

 stork is not found, and where the 

 hooded crow is the bird of passage, this 

 bird takes the place of the stork as a 

 bird of omen. It is quite common to 

 take omens from the first birds of pas- 

 sage a person sees or hears in the 

 spring, but omens are taken from almost 

 everything that is seen for the first time 

 in the new year. Thus omens are taken 

 from the first new moon in the new 

 year, from the first thunder, from the 

 first scarabee, and from the first flow- 

 ers. 



The crane, like the stork, comes in 

 the last part of March : 

 Third Thursday in Thor (the month of 



March) 

 The crane sets his foot on earth; 

 Third Thursday after that 

 We shall go Hght evenings to bed; 

 and it is commonly said, when people 

 begin to go to bed by dayhght: ''Now 

 the crane carries light to bed." In Swe- 

 den, they have quite a remarkable story 

 that explains this proverb. ''The crane 

 was servant giril for Miss Valborg, and 

 every time her betrothed, Mr. Olof, 

 came, then she carried light when they 

 went to their rooms. This lasted from 

 Lady-day, March twenty-fifth, to St. 

 Olave's day, July twenty-ninth, but 

 when they then were married, the crane 



put out the hght, and on that account 

 the nights became dark. Had they con- 

 tinued to be betrothed all the year, then 

 should we always have had light nights. 



In the middle of April, first the gray 

 and next the yellow wagtail come, oat 

 seed and barley seed. When the gray 

 wagtail comes, it is time to sow oats, 

 -and when the yellow comes, it is time to 

 sow barley. Therefore the wagtail is 

 in all Scandinavia and England also 

 called the seedbird. In Jutland, people 

 are very glad when they see the wagtail, 

 and say that it will be spring imme- 

 diately: First comes the Vet (the little 

 wading bird called turnstone), then the 

 Sangret (another wading t)ird), then 

 comes the Somrdaal (the wagtail) and 

 spring begins at once. 



Since the skylark first commenced his 

 song over the snow covered fields, peo- 

 ple have been longing for spring; and 

 each returning bird of passage has 

 added more strength and life to the 

 longing. 



If a person sees the first wagtail fly- 

 ing, and it turns its breast towards him, 

 he may expect sorrow, but otherwise it 

 brings joy. In Norway, the gray wag- 

 tail is called "Linerle" (Flax-wagtail), 

 and the common belief is, that the flax 

 will grow tall, if the first wagtail flies 



