THE BIRD STUDY BOOK 

 the evidence of his suffering was pitiful. In fact, he 

 stirred our feelings to such a pitch we at length closed 

 the windows to shut out the sounds of his mournful 

 calls. 



Upon looking out next morning, the first note 

 we heard was that of a Bluebird, but his voice seemed 

 to have lost some of its sorrow. Walking around 

 the corner of the house, 1 found him sitting on a limb 

 near the box. Two feet from him sat another Blue- 

 bird — a female. At eleven o'clock we saw her cling- 

 ing to the side of the box and looking inquiringly into 

 the entrance hole. We knew what this meant; 

 incidentally we knew, too, that being a ladybird 

 she would have no use for the nest and eggs that had 

 been placed there by another, so I cleaned out the 

 box. 



We were anxious that the cat should have no 

 chance to destroy our little friend's second wife, so 

 the box was suspended from a limb by a wire over 

 two feet in length. Five eggs were laid and the 

 mother bird began sitting. Then one night the cat 

 [50] 



