46 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Land Birds In Mid-Ocean 
A newspaper of recent date published 
an interesting report from an ocean 
liner. When many days out from land 
a flock of more than a dozen zirds, in¬ 
cluding one owl, and several wrens, 
thrushes and chaffinches, alighted on 
the steamer, Caledonia, while on her 
way, to Boston from Manchester and 
Liverpool. The birds were exhausted 
after their long flight from shore; and 
all but two chaffinches died in a short 
time. 
Our Brown Thrushes 
Continued from page 43 
thrushes has come and taken her week¬ 
end bath, preparing herself religiously 
for the Sabbath Day tomorrow. 
This season our thrushes had constant 
bad luck; and it was not till the first of 
July that they had their nest perma¬ 
nently made close to the ball on the top 
cf a post in our enclosing fence, which is 
covered high and thick by a dense 
growth of Virginia creeper. But, alas ! 
ill luck still followed them ! Our “kitty 
cat" (for we love cats as well as birds 
at our home, but we keep Mistress Pussy 
strictly, but humanely, confined during 
the summer,—but as Kipling says, that 
is another story) well, Kitty got out one 
night about the 'time the nest was com¬ 
pleted, and of course, found and de¬ 
stroyed their work. Nothing daunted, 
they immediately set to> work and built 
again very quickly, not far from the 
same spot, but this time screened by a 
lilac hedge and a wild grapevine. Two 
brown-speckled eggs were laid, and a 
cowbird unsuccessfully tried to add a 
third. Only one fledgeling rewarded the 
hopes of the parent birds, one of the 
eggs still remaining undisturbed in the 
nest. 
■ Two years ago these two brown 
thrushes built in our currant bushes. 
Nearby was a tangle of elderberry 
bushes and a box-elder tree, with its 
blanches low to the ground. One morn¬ 
ing early in June I went close to the 
nest to see how the young were getting 
along. I found one little bird, just 
ready to fly, sitting on the rim of the 
nest, and the startled mother bird on a 
lower branch of the box-elder tree as I 
stood quietly there by the currants I 
heard the parent thrush crooning to it 
in a soft, sweet way, flitting restlessly 
the while about on the limb, a warning 
which, while it was still fresh in my 
mind I wrote down. Does not Lowell 
tell us, “He sings to the wide world, 
and she to her nest!” 
The following lines are what I seemed 
to hear, the “tsh-ip’ ” being a sharp, 
quick call: 
i 
Tsh—ip’! keep still, dearie! 
Danger’s near, danger’s near! 
Tsh—Ip’! keep still, dearie, 
Whe—el—1—er—whe—el—er—r! 
Tsh—ip’! stir not, bonnie ! 
Leaves hide you, never fear! 
Tsh—ip’! we two are here, 
Whe—el—1—er—whe—el—er—r! 
Tsh—ip’! fly up, birdie! 
Foe’s away, far from here! 
Tsh—ip’! safe now, birdie, 
Whe—el—1—er—whe—el—er—r! 
Whe—elr—er—r—r—r—1—r! 
September 17, 1910. 
On two occasions chickadees have 
flown down and perched upon my hand. 
During the few seconds they remain 
there I became rigid with the emotion 
of this novel experience. It was a mark 
of confidence which seemed to initiate 
me into the ranks of woodland dwellers 
— Chapman. 
