ve that either the
second nest had been robbed, or that the mother had watched for us, and
flown to cover her babies after they were hatched, till we had paid our
daily visit and passed on. This latter may be the correct conclusion,
and if so, her conduct was entirely different from that of any veery I
have seen.

Whatever cause had emptied the thrush cradle we found no signs of
disturbance about it, and we heard no lamentations. But we did hear
from every impenetrable tangle in the woods, the baby-cries of young
thrushes; and we ventured to hope that no hawk or owl or squirrel, or
other foe in feathers or in fur, had carried off the nestlings of that
brave brown-eyed mamma.

XII.

A MEADOW NEST.

A bird's nest in the middle of a meadow is as isolated as if on an
island; for the most eager bird student, though he may look and long
afar off, will hesitate before he harrows the soul of the owner of the
fair waving sea of grass by trampling it down. In such a secure place,
among scattered old apple-trees, a pair of veeries had set up their
household, surrounded and protected from every enemy who does not wear
wings.

They were late in nesting, for young veeries were out everywhere.
Doubtless the first home had been destroyed, and they had selected this
retreat in the midst of the tall grass for its seclusion and apparent
safety.

What dismay, then, must have filled the heart of the timid creatures
when there arrived, one morning, a party of men and horses and machines,
who proceeded at once, with the clatter and confusion which follows the
doings of men, to lay low their green protecting walls, and expose their
cherished treasures to the greed or the cruelty of their worst enemies!
Not less their surprise and grief when, after the uproar of cutting,
raking and carrying away their only screen, there entered the silent but
watchful spies, who planted their stools in plain sight, to take note of
all their doings.

The nest, with its babies three, was wide open to the sun; no one could
pass without seeing it. It was in a cluster of shoots growing up from
the roots of an old apple-tree, and so closely crowded between them that
its shape was oval.

The nestlings were nearly ready to fly, and I hoped that birds brave
enough to come out of the woods and build among apple-trees would be
less afraid of people than the woods dwellers. So when I learned of my
comrade's discovery I hastened at once to make the acqua