The Lay of he Band 
families of them) ; in the barn loft a small colony of 
barn swallows ; and under the roof of the pig-pen a 
pair of phoebes, my earliest spring birds and often 
the latest with a brood. 
A bushy hillside drops from the porch to the old 
orchard, and along this steep southern slope nested 
a pair of indigo buntings and a pair of rose-breasted 
grosbeaks (my rarest neighbors); also, here in the 
thick underbrush were found chewinks, thrashers, 
black and white warblers, song sparrows, and a pair 
of partridges. 
In the orchard there were half a dozen chippies’ 
nests, even more robins’, two nests of bluebirds, and 
one each of the tree swallow, flicker, yellow warbler, 
chebec, downy woodpecker, kingbird, great crested 
flycatcher, redstart, and screech owl. 
Baltimore orioles nested in the elms along the road; 
close to the little river were the nests of catbirds 
and red-winged blackbirds; a nest of swamp spar- 
rows and of Maryland yellow-throats in the meadow, 
and in the woodlot a pewee’s nest, a crow’s nest, 
and three nests of ovenbirds. 
All these I found; but besides these I know that 
a pair of yellow-billed cuckoos built somewhere near 
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