ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 29 



Through thorny thicket and hedge they scan 

 For suitable site where they may plan 



A home near the old location ; 



Nor do they wait for balmy hours 



Midst budding leaves and opening flowers 

 To begin the summer vocation. 



Following wisdom gained through years — 



Barricaded with thorny spears 

 They build to divert disaster, 



Like scriptural structure built on rock 

 Able to stand the March wind's shock 



And April's floods to master. 



Laboring with an ardent zest, 



The deep and prettily rounded nest 



They firmly weave together; 



Rootlets and thorny twigs en masse 



Interwoven with strings of grass 

 And lined with fur and feather. 



Here in Nature's cozy retreat 



Savagery and innocence meet 

 Sans unlawful suggestion — 



Violence is given full sway 

 Might rules in its dominant way 



Nor needs its right to question. 



Unassumingly dressed in gray 



He does not in the least betray 

 The cruel hidden nature 



That gives him questionable fame 

 And marks him with the vicious name 



Attached in nomenclature. 



While Mother Nature has decreed 



That he should meet his every need 



And has her approbation, 



When he destroys birds that should live 



We find it harder to forgive 

 His murderous occupation. 



With mingled thoughts of sorrow and scorn 

 We see a bird impaled on thorn 



And lament his disposition ; 



But willing still are we to forget 



His faults when virtues greater yet 

 Are brought to our recognition. 



