60 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



any curious eyes from above, — from the cat, 

 for instance, prowling along the top of the wall. 

 Before the eggs had hatched, the docken leaf 

 wilted and dried and fell down upon the nest. 

 But the mother bird managed to insinuate her- 

 self beneath it, and went on with her brooding 

 all the same. 



Then I arranged an artificial cover of leaves 

 and branches, which shielded her charge till 

 they had flown away. A mere trifle was this 

 little bob-tailed bird with her arts and her se- 

 crets, and the male with his song, and yet the 

 pair gave a touch of something to those days and 

 to that place which I would not willingly have 

 missed. 



