IDYLLS OF BIRD LIFE 
gathering food. At my approach she hastily flew in the direc¬ 
tion of the syringa bushes, and I guessed that the young were 
-''out.of the shell. When I reached the nest I found that I had 
.guessed rightly. Five hungry little downy birds thrust their 
heads out\of the nest. The mother bird had been there before 
my approach, and now the father appeared, and fearlessly 
wfed the nest and gave his supplv of food to the hungry 
-Efrdlings. This industrious pair of little workers had more than 
they could take care of in supplying the babes. Occasionally 
helped them along, by bringing berries and crumbs, and I soon 
i/$Dn their entire confidence. In about ten days the young left 
the-nesti, and, as these neighborly birds are summer residents, 
^ 0 ° 
we had the profound pleasure of listening to their sweet song 
p 
through the long weeks of summer and autumn, until the 
migraton- period took them southward. 
' a 
00 
An evening in early May, just as twilight was beginnings. .' 
o pervade the atmosphere, I was coming through an open 
woods, a short-cut from the city to my home, when I heard 
distinct song of a brown thrasher as h^ was bidding aii- 
day goodbve. The song that reached my ears came frpm 
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