117 



taken from a window in the block. English Sparrows con- 

 tinually l^estered this piir of birds. Althougli nesting ma- 

 terial was abundant on every hand, the sparrows, out of pure 

 deviltry, chose to steal it from the Robin rather than pick 

 it up from the ground. One after another would slyly steal 

 up under the nest, grasp the end of a straw or string, pull 

 it from its fastening and, with a gleeful chuckle, fly away 

 with it. These depredations continued until the bottom of 

 the nest was torn out and the Robin eggs were dashed to the 

 paving below. 



Similar tragedies are enacted hundreds of times every 

 year in all cities and towns yet we still sometimes meet mis- 

 guided people who will undertake to defend the English 

 Sparrow. The person who can invent the surest, most ef- 

 fective and swiftest means of ridding our country of these 

 pests will be one of the greatest benefactors of mankind. 



Veery or Wilson Thrush 



As in the ease of a great many of our birds, it is from its 

 song that this species receives its name. This song is a de- 

 scending spiral of tremulous, reedy whistles, which may be 

 interpreted as "Vee-r-r-r-r-y, vee-r-r-r-r-y," the 'veery' be- 

 ing repeated perhaps half a dozen times, each making a 

 complete turn of the spiral and each being of a lower pitch 

 and lesser volume than the preceding. This song may be 

 heard at almost all hours of the day and often until after 

 dusk in most woodland, during summer. Their call and note 

 of protest is a single, tremulous, mournful, ascending whis- 

 tle. 



Veeries are perfectly garbed for the life they lead, on or 

 near the ground, their backs being almost a perfect match 

 in color to dead leaves. 



Veeries build their nests of strips of bark and fine 

 grasses, placing them on the ground or very near it; often 

 it is set down in the middle of a patch of dead leaves, 

 sometimes in the mid.st of a clump of ferns and often 



