Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-03-02
The Two Nests.

The old vicarage, with its low red gable:
and clustered chimneys, nestles into the
hillside in a perfect nosegay of lilacs, la.
burnums and laurel! 1t is girdled in with
tall elms, out of which rises the ancient
fint-built primitive little church, while
just below the hill runs small river with
4 foot-bridge, which leads to the village
half-a-mile off. Dropped down thus in
the midst OF quiet fields and the sweeps Of
woodland, all the shyest birds and beast.
about have their free entrance and exit
into the garden, and very pleasant compa.
ny they made. Corncrakes cry in the
fields below, nightiars are heard in the
hedgerows, white owls fit noiselessly past
the windows, and all the - tits" in Eng
fish ornithology seem to have their dwell.
ing-places there.
There is large yew on the lawn, whose
branches hang low over the little terrace
upon which, one day this June, some sharp
young eyes detected the beginning of a
nest. 1t was most artistically swung to
four of the smaller twigs, skillfully twisted
in with cords of grass, and the pouch OF
green moss sprinkled with lichen, grew till
it was nearly six inches deep. The golden
crested wrens, its builders. tiniest and
prettiest of our birds, with their pert
rapid motions, the father with his bright
yellow head, and the wife in her duieter
dress, kept dashing in and out all day, to
the great delight of the children. They
are thought to be shy birds, but they
choose sometimes strangely public place.
for their nests, and show n wonderful con.
fidence in man. Soon after the building
of " its pendent nest and procreant cradle
was finished, some curious little fingers had
probed its bottom, and found that it wa,
+ full of eggs. They're hardly bigger than
peas, Annie, but such lots of them; how
ever will the baby birds find room t.
breathe ?" The mother sat on, undaunteC
by the continual passing, or the very uu
welcome attentions it received. We cous
see the bright glancing eyes, with an 4.
easy shake about the little he. I Sc ot y
ing over the edge of the nest, but she ha,
learnt not to stir, even when we stopne,
close under the tree.
L looked out one balmy early morning
the smell of the honeysuckles was STRONG I,
the air, the dew sparkling on the grass
Halo !" L heard, as Frank, who wa
home for the holidays, sauntered into III,
garden. -" Oh dear, what a pity - erie,
Annie in most pitiful tones as she followe,
him. And there lay twelve of the small
est and ugliest of living things, all month
sprawllng, some on the gravel dead
amongst litter of feathers and moss N,
bottom of the nest had burst. Whetbe
the passing gardeners head-for it hmm,
quite low enough to be touched-baS
shaken it, or whether the weight alone q
the mass of little life within had broLe,
through, no one could tell. Il wonde,
whether one couldn't sew up the bottom p
said Annie, compassionately picking ur
those OF the horrid little monsters which
were still alive, and making nest f.,
them in her handkerchief. . | think
could do it with laurel leaf" VIVA
nonsense !" replied her brother :. sucb >
womans notion-sew ! and make the bird
forsake to dead certainty! You dom
suppose she'd stand all that pulling about
of her nest and her young, do YOU? II
isn't the slightest use; you'd better try
and feed the birds" I'm sure we peve,
could rear them; wrens are so difficult n
feed. We can but try the other wav
said Annie. May. dear, run and ask 70,
some worsted and a worsted medicine
III 60 myself" Then collecting the scat