FOUR NEIGHBORS DIVERSE 



birds was flying about our garden, and we picked up 

 one dead, which we had mounted. How I did admire 

 it! — much, I suppose as my baby girl feels, who pats 

 the stuffed birds in my study every day, saying, "Chicky, 

 chicky." 



In early spring, usually by March, one begins to see 

 more and more flocks. These large companies break 

 up soon into smaller ones. But after all the other 

 birds have paired and are nesting, still we see flocks of 

 Cedar-birds and Goldfinches, our two greatest delin- 

 quents. The Cedar-bird is the first of these two to 

 yield to the inevitable, and by late June or early July 

 we begin to miss them. But if we use our eyes a little 

 we can find a nest here and a nest there, preferably in 

 an orchard tree, but also in shade trees in gardens or 

 along village streets. The pretty mother sits quietly 

 on her compact nest of straws and rootlets, incubating 

 her four or five spotted eggs, which can be distinguished 

 at once from those of any other kind. If we disturb 

 her we shall hear the lisping notes which were familiar 

 in the spring. One day in midsummer a boy came to 

 ask me what sort of a bird it was that had a nest in an 

 apple tree by his home and kept saying, "Listen to me, 

 listen to me." I told him that I never heard a bird 

 say that, so I went with him to see, and found that it 

 was a Cedar-bird. 



They sometimes nest in my apple trees, and I find 

 nests elsewhere readily enough, but most of them are 

 out on slender branches or in deep shade, giving little 



195 



