44 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



customed tree, and the pair were seen no more 

 in that vicinity. 



After a pair of nesting birds have been broken 

 up once or twice during the season, they become 

 almost desperate, and will make great efforts to 

 outwit their enemies. A pair of brown thrashers 

 built their nest in a pasture-field under a low, 

 scrubby apple-tree which the cattle had browsed 

 down tiU it spread a thick, wide mass of thorny 

 twigs only a few inches above the ground. Some 

 blackberry briers had also grown there, so that the 

 screen was perfect. My dog first started the bird, 

 as I was passing near. By stooping low and peer- 

 ing intently, I could make out the nest and eggs. 

 Two or three times a week, as I passed by, I 

 would pause to see how the nest was prospering. 

 The mother bird would keep her place, her yellow 

 eyes never blinking. One morning, as I looked 

 into her tent, I found the nest empty. Some 

 night-prowler, probably a skunk or a fox, or 

 maybe a black snake or a red squirrel by day, 

 had plundered it. It would seem as if it was too 

 well screened; it was in such a spot as any de- 

 predator would be apt to explore. " Surely," he 

 would say, " this is a likely place for a nest." 

 The birds then moved over the hill a hundred 

 rods or more, much nearer the house, and in some 

 rather open bushes tried again. But again they 



