80 
WILD SCENES AND SONG-BIRDS. 
therefore, liad been very great to retain these valuable birds 
in close confinement, rather than run such risks, and indeed 
we had determined to do so should we succeed in obtaining 
them ; but now the sight of that gentle mother had moved 
us, and, to confess the truth, we felt our tenure to be so very 
insecure, that we were just now a little like the sailor in the 
storm, ready to promise his patron saint pretty much any- 
thing if he would only help him out this time ! 
As we returned from our ride, all was safe, and I took 
good care to be along that way several times during the 
day. So the matter progressed for several days, and as our 
solicitude had been rewarded by iinding everything right 
at each of our frequent visits thus far, we had commenced 
congratulating ourselves that the danger was over, and that 
my strategy had succeeded in turning aside the dangerous 
curiosity of the boys. 
It was in this mood we approached the, now, interesting 
thorn tree, on the fourth morning of our rides in this direc- 
tion. We were discussing between ourselves the probabili- 
ties of the young being hatched by this time, for, as yet, we 
had only caught a glimpse of the greenish eggs, spotted with 
amber brown, when the brooding female lifted a wing as she 
shifted her position. We were in the midst of a gay and 
happy chatter when we reached the tree, before I observed 
that we were so near. There was an exclamation of pain 
and surprise from my sister. I looked — the nest was gone ! 
The shady and thorn-guarded bosom of the tree was bare, to 
a few dried twigs and shreds of roots ! A choking sensation 
of rage and grief came over me as I sprang from the saddle 
to examine for traces of the robbers. Vengeance was the 
first thought. "Look! look brother! they are dead !" and 
my sister points to the foot of the tree, where, on a scrap of 
old carpet, the poor little callow things, just one day in an 
inhospitable world, lay stark and motionless. 
"Poor things — they are dead !" and I stooped to examine 
them. They certainly could not have been more than a day 
