154 IN BIRD LAND. 



rollicksome, if not the most tuneful lay of the 

 chorus. As a sort of accompaniment, the chipping- 

 sparrow often trilled his silvery monotone ; and once 

 a robin added his Cheerily, here, here ! 



So much for the birds about the house, though 

 there were many others that have not been men- 

 tioned ; in fact, there were some twenty species in 

 all. There were also birds a-plenty in other places. 

 A half day was spent in some fields bordering the 

 broad river. On a green slope was a bush-sparrow's 

 nest, daintily bowered in the grass by the side of a 

 blackberry bush, and in a thicket hard by two 

 yellow-breasted chats had placed their grassy cradles, 

 proclaiming their secret to all the world by their 

 loud cries of warning to keep away. It is odd that 

 these birds, shy and nervous as they are, should go 

 so far out of their way to tell you that they have a 

 nest somewhere in the copse that you mustn't 

 touch, mustn't even look for. While you are yet a 

 quarter of a mile away, they will utter their loud 

 cries of warning ; and if you go to the thicket where 

 they are, you will be almost sure to find their nest, 

 so poorly have they learned the lesson of discretion. 



In a little hollow of the copse a dying crow lay 

 prone upon the ground. At intervals he would 

 struggle and gasp in a spasmodic way. When I 

 gently moved him with my cane, he grasped it with 

 his claws and held it quite firmly. I put the stick 

 to his large black beak. He took hold of it feebly, 

 ready to defend himself even with his last gasp, for 

 that it proved to be ; he lay over and died the next 



