26 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



every bird on her father's land. Ever since I 

 could remember I had loved, to the best of my 

 ability, protected, and doctored the birds, but I 

 never before had realized that they were quite so 

 wonderful. From that hour in which they became 

 my personal property every bird of them took on 

 new beauty of colouring, new grace in flight, and 

 previously unnoted sweetness of song. So with 

 the natural acquisitiveness of hiunan nature I began 

 a systematic search to increase my possessions. I 

 climbed every tree in the dobryard and looked 

 over the branches carefully. Not a sweet scented 

 shrub, a honeysuckle, a lilac, a syringa, a rose 

 bush, or a savin escaped my exploring eyes. Then I 

 proceeded to the garden, and one by one I searched 

 the currant, gooseberry, blackberry, and raspberry 

 bushes, the grape arbour, the vines clambering over 

 the fence, and the trees and shrubs of its corners. 

 Then I went over each vine-covered section of the 

 fence enclosing the dooryard, hunting for nests set 

 flat on the crosspieces. I almost tore the hair from 

 my head, while I did tear mj^ apron to pieces and 

 scratched my face, hands, and feet to bleeding in my 

 minute exploration of the big berry patch east of the 

 dooryard, where the Lawton blackberries grew high 

 above my head. Then I extended my search to 

 every corner of the fence enclosing the orchard and 

 took its dozens of trees one at a time, climbing 

 those that I could and standing motionless under 

 those that I could not, intently watching until I am 



