Music of the Wild 



Fifteen feet high in the hraiiches of one of 

 these old a])ple trees a rohiu hnilt her nest hefore 

 A True leafage in the m et, eold April of 1907. There 

 Mother ^ygj.^ ^„.(, evil's ^\hen one morning found the cradle 

 filled -with snoAv, and 1 thought she would desert 

 it, hut later she returned. Surely brooding bird 

 never had a more uneomff)rtahle time. The tree 

 had borne apples the previous year, and of course 

 she thought it alive and expected jjrotection from 

 the lea\es. It a\ as ([uite dead,- and never a sign of 

 l)lo()m or leaf appeared. 



The ^\'eather changed al)ruptly each day. "^Vith 

 no shelter -whatever she sat through freezing nights. 

 snoAV}" days, sleet, rain, and flashes of hot sunshine. 

 A\"hen she had four ba])ies almost ready to lea\'e 

 the nest, a terrific cold rain began on Satiu'day 

 morning. Jiy afternoon it ]wured. and she pointed 

 her l)ill sky^Aard and gasped for lireath. I fully 

 expected that she -would desert the nest and seek 

 shelter l)efore morning, but she remained, altliough 

 drenched and half dead. That rain contiiuied all 

 of Sunday, ])oin-ing at times, until ^Monday morn- 

 ing. Although I Avatched by the hour, not once 

 from tlie time it began initil rifts of sunlight 

 sho^^•ed Monday morning did I see her leave her 

 nest or feed the young, or her mate bring her a 

 morsel of food. For an hour at a stretch, several 

 times a day, I thought she would droA\-n. ]My lad- 

 der had been erected for soiue time before her lo- 



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