it grew so snarled that they could get no 

 more long threads, when they left it for 

 good. 



That same day I carried out some bright- 

 colored bits of worsted and ribbon, and scat- jJn ^rJo/e's Nesf 

 tered them on the grass. The birds soon 

 found them and used them in completing 

 their nest. For a while a gayer little dwell- 

 ing was never seen in a tree. The bright 

 bits of color in the soft gray of the walls gave 

 the nest always a holiday appearance, in good 

 keeping with the high spirits of the orioles. 

 But by the time the young had chipped the 

 shell, and the joyousness of nest-building had 

 given place to the constant duties of filling 

 hungry little mouths, the rains and the sun 

 of summer had bleached the bright colors to 

 a uniform sober gray. 



That was a happy family from beginning 

 to end. No accident ever befell it ; no enemy 

 disturbed its peace. And when the young 

 birds had flown away to the South, I took 

 down the nest which I had helped to build, 

 and hung it in my study as a souvenir of my 

 bright little neighbors. 



