86 MELODRAMA AND TRAGEDY 



proverbial predilection by coming back. Next day 

 the nest was empty, and two somewhat uneasy Song 

 Sparrows inan adjacent Willow seemed to be consider- 

 ing ways and means for a new domestic venture. The 

 ways of featheredlife are strange and often mysterious. 

 With ample precautions against the blending of ob- 

 servation and imagination much may be discovered 

 and disclosed to strengthen human sympathetic 

 interest. The unfolding of a strange family history 

 may be cut short by the depredations of a feline 

 enemy. The little glimpse of a life under peculiar 

 circumstances, mysterious in origin and uncertain 

 in its untimely end, seems a reflection of the calls 

 that come down out of the night from passing 

 strangers as they follow their mysterious courses from 

 zone to zone. 



