MEMORIES OF A MAY MORNING. 57 



A heavy thunder- shower came on at noon of the next 

 day. I leave my readers to imagine the result. The 

 fairy -like palace, like all castles in the air, had collapsed, 

 and, " like the baseless fabric of a vision, left but a 

 wreck behind." However, our brave little birdie cried, 

 " Never say die I" and set to work once more, made wiser 

 by experience, building a more substantial nest in a 

 lilac bush close by ; but with a feminine weakness for 

 finery she paid many visits to the frail ruin, selecting 

 such of the more substantial materials among the rags 

 as she found likely to prove useful in binding the walls 

 of the new nest together, but not sufficient to weaken 

 the more suitable articles which she wisely adopted for 

 her work. 



The new nest was an excellent specimen of skill, and 

 the bits so judiciously woven in this time proved highly 

 ornamental. I fancied the little builder felt proud of 

 her work when it was finished, and we gave it unquali- 

 fied praise. 



The ruined tenement excited the admiration of a cat- 

 bird* She also had a taste for pretty soft bits of muslin 

 and gay scraps of colored prints ; so her ladyship set to 

 work very diligently to repair the now dilapidated nest 

 with the addition of dried fibrous roots, and grass, moss 

 and all sorts of trash, which, with the rags, were soon 

 wrought up into a substantial nest which formed the 

 receptacle for five bluish-green eggs. But misfortune 



* Qaleoscoptes carolinenis (Linn.). 



