AN ORIOLE'S NEST 



OW suggestive it is, swing- 

 ing there through sunlight and 

 shadow from the long droop- 

 ing tips of the old elm boughs ! 

 And what a delightful cradle for the 

 young orioles, swayed all day long by 

 every breath of the summer breeze, 

 peeping through chinks as the world sweeps 

 by, watching with bright eyes the boy below 

 who looks up in vain, or the mountain of hay 

 that brushes them in passing, and whistling 

 cheerily, blow high or low, with never a fear 

 of falling ! The mother bird must feel very 

 comfortable about it as she goes off cater- 

 pillar hunting ; for no bird enemy can trouble 

 the little ones while she is gone. The black 

 snake, that horror of all low-nesting birds, 

 will never cUmb so high. The red squirrel 

 — little wretch that he is, to eat young birds 

 ^35 



