Song Birds and Water Fowl 



phoebe's, with its thick, strong walls, whose 

 sloping sides are picturesquely stuccoed with 

 moss and lichen, and the finely moulded, deep 

 receptacle holding the five white globules, pure 

 as alabaster — a choice bit of rustic architecture, 

 with its treasure of a bird's best hopes. So much 

 fascination, indeed, can one find in these end- 

 lessly varied specimens of frail texture and con- 

 summate art, when gathered for himself, that it 

 is safe to assert, that whoever has collected half 

 a dozen of even the commonest sorts, will find 

 himself ticketed for the whole journey through 

 the nest-country, so far as time and circum- 

 stances will allow. 



The mountains round about Lake George are 

 not always the emblem of imperturbable seren- 

 ity. Nature's destructive forces, that are here 

 commonly smothered into a deceptive calm, 

 now and then break loose with surprising vio- 

 lence. I have never experienced nor heard of 

 anything so weird, in the way of a thunder- 

 storm, as the display that occurred here one 

 night. A thunder-storm, h la mode, may be very 

 grand, but it is a trifle conventional. On this 

 occasion we were not treated to the usual inter- 

 mittent flashes, like electrifying glances of Nat- 

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