rently they did, for I could not make out a head, 

 though some of the sleepers hung over the street 

 within ten feet of the lamp-post. But they were 

 all above the light, with only their breasts out of 

 the shadows, and to be certain I must make a 

 bird move. Finding that the noises were not 

 likely to arouse them, I threw a stick against 

 one of the laden limbs. There were heads then, 

 plenty of them, and every one, evidently, had 

 been turned back and buried in the warm wing- 

 coverts. 



My stick hit very near the toes of one of the 

 sparrows, and he flew. There was a twitter, 

 then a stir all over the tree ; but nothing further 

 happening, they tucked in their heads again and 

 went back to bed. 



I waited. At four o'clock they still slept. 

 The moon had swung out from behind the high 

 buildings and now hung just above the slender 

 spire of Park Street Church, looking down into 

 the deep, narrow street gulch. A cat picked her 

 way among the graves, sprang noiselessly to the 

 top of a flat tomb beneath the sparrows, and 

 watched with me. The creature brought the 

 wilderness with her. After all, this was not so 

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