Sonffs of the Fields 



'to 



bird of Omnipotence. It was a dove that carried 

 tlie news of release to the ^^risoners in the ark. and 

 it ^\-as in the form of a doxe that the S})irit of The Bird 

 (xod is said to have materialized and hovered over '^ ° 

 the head of Jesus when He Mas baptized in the 

 Jordan. What other bird bears honors high as 

 these? Yet doves home in the thicket, on a few 

 rough twigs they place their pearly, opalescent 

 eggs, and in trembling anxiety brood and raise a 

 pair of young tliat go modestly and lovingly 

 through life, exactly the same as their parents. 

 Nowhere else in all nature does the softly-uttered 

 coo of a dove so harmonize with the environment 

 as over a stream in a tliicket; and no accompani- 

 ment to the murmuring voice of the Ijimberlost is 

 quite so melodious as the love-song of this bird. 



The thicket seems a natural home for almost 

 every feathered creature. This because there are 

 trees, bushes, and shrubs, with their berries, nuts, 

 and fruits; A'ines and weeds bearing seed; every 

 variety of insect and worm, and Avater with its suj)- 

 ply of food, thus j)roviding things to eat in a small 

 S2)ace for almost every species. In spring and sum- 

 mer the birds have full sway; but in the fall, after 

 the first black frost, come rugged country boys 

 and girls and village children in search of fruit 

 and nuts. 



To some there is nothing so delicious as the 

 black haw — white until almost ripe, then a day of 



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