Ellsworth American., 1912-07-31
AROUND OUR HOME.



We cine oftenss frozn tanAs by win
dow opening On small psazss. tor here
ws usay Iook oFer and across q large aeid
gsth the wood beyoad, and far away into
ths hlzs sky where zuiIs s-giszm and van
ish and gsesmF.
This fsefd holds many secrets which we
are ssoxiy finding out Here birds and
/ hzsss and flowers and beetles eorze year
AFTER year, and here this rear ~e picked
several dishes Of delicious wil1 straw
berries sueh as stiistle brown hands
picked long, long ago
And here. slwsys, ss we lock up. some
happiness salts US. One day il Was pair
OF hazzms1x birds on a line near by.
-Four minutes BY the clock they sat there.
Very ctssB Il is . robin pershsd On one OF
the posts. sometimes 10 presn his feathers,
sOnstimes to sing bis song occasionally
70 rest wf;h cezk fulI Of worms before
taking fight 10 his sess- Once il was TO
watch fsock OF seTenfy-sire OF one hun-
dred OF thess red -brests zs they came fly
ing and hopping scroes the field, Just re-
turned from the South. Once a chfckzdee
sIizhssd on the piazza rail-, peered in for
an instant only. and was gone. Some old
crows hroaght their young ones to the
Geld, and we saw these latter hopping
ciamsiiy along, their long legs dangling
swkwsrdlT. Later in the season g flock,
perhaps swo hundred. tapped over, dark
ening the sxy--a black cacad. surely. Oncs
fox sparrow sang 50 tantaiizingiy that
for several days we must 20 out with
glasses and watch him and let him thrill
as more and more
A uaonstrous bHmble- bse came to pzy
his respects, hummed loudly and passed
On. spider did battle with q wasp.
neatly tied him by the hind legs, leaving
him TO futter those gsuzy wings. How
many vibrations per minute do dare sayg
Two hundred cannot be too high an esti-
mate. Then be rams down the line and
passes the thread around the tront legs,
and later the wings are still Sow but
tersy fits in, then out again. And at eve
the dre-fsies light up the "orzkes anti
bushes. We catch some and put them
under glass with few dewy elover bios
SONS, take them to our room and go peace
fully to sleep, knowing they are making
the night beautiful.
But cur nesest happiness is the barn
swallows. We were eating our noon-dzy
meal when the little boy suddenly ex-
claimed: ssOh, look mosherin And there
they were, five fro~zy-looking young
swallows. 1 do not know how long they
had been there when father locked at his
watch, but when be did look 1t was Eve
minutes after one O'Clock. And when
they finally few away IT was eight
minutes before three. All this time they
we're being fed by the parent birds. and
such chirping, and fiuttering OF wings,
and stretching Of necks, and wide opening
of hungry mouths when the old birds sp-
peared with food.
Patience Is surely born in the heart OF
the swallow. Such long, sweeping flights
around and around, now up in the air, now
skimming the ground, pausing only with
fiuttering wings TO plump something into
one or the other 6t those open mouths.
The young ones themselves sat there on
the line busiiy preening their feathers and
over. getting ready for the duties OF bird
life. When they had been On the line for
half an hour, one few out a few inches to
meet the mother and get the food she had
for him, and he, after tumbling about in
the air a moment or two, safely reached
another line
A kingbird aiighted on pole at the
onrrzv ri hv eardaS nd -zs6 tA.
little boy, ave must take care that he
does no harm to the babies" Suddenly be
few in their direction and / rose to in
tercept him, bat there was no need; the Old
swallows drove him OF without ceremony.
A junco few to the line, but this peacea BILE
little bird aroused no fears. A yellow
warbler called, and q vesper sparrow
hovered about from line to post, post to
wood pile and back again to the line, SEEM
ingly rather unwilling to leave so peace
ful a place. A goldfneh came to the
garden, rested q moment, then darted up
ward and ever singing as he went: 'per-
chic-o-ree, per-chic-o-ree, per-chic-o-
rec" until he was lost to sight and to ear.
Baby '.chippies" came and vent, and still
this process Of feeding and preening and
stretching went on.
grew uneasy ana ashamed-uneasy lest
the old birds become exhausted, ashamed
OF such greedy young ones. Had they
never had anything to eat before? AT last
three Of the swallows few awsy-were
gone some minutes. Now, thought /, rest
for those surely tired wings. But no, they
were back again and the feeding and the
stretching and the oiling went on. More
visits from the little iunco and the vesper
sparrow; clearly they were interested. A
song sparrow sang modestly. A robin
dropped in for moment. His breast was
mottled. thereby showing this to be his
first season. An old beau came and
stopped longer, sang right valiantly. All,
what glorious vest was hist
And now one of the swallows has flown
and while am yet watching, one OF the
old birds goes to the line and ''presto, be-