Evening star., 1937-05-07

a n ANY feathered folk love the
M Smiling Pool. OF course,
those like Mr.. and Mrs.
4 Quack and Longlegs the
Heron and other members of their
families, who get most Of their food
In or close to the water, love the
Smiling Pool. That is to be expected.
But there are others who never go
into the water except to bathe who
love it almost as we'll. Redwing the
Blackbird is one of these Mr. and
Mrs. Redwing love to make their
home among the alders or the rushes
very near the Smiling Pool. Another
who dearly loves home near water,
either the Smiling Pool or the Laugh
ing Brook, is Little Friend the Song
Sparrow. He and his demure little
mate sometimes build far from it, but
their first choice is place near
water.
This Spring they had found
place just little back from the Smil-
Ing Pool place that just suited
them. 1t was at the lower end, where
the Laughing Brook left the Smiling
Pool on its way to the Big River The
running water gurgled around some
big stones there and rippled over
others, and the music of it Little
Friend tried to reproduce in his own
happy song.
There were few bushes and some
tussocks of grass among them, and it
was one of these tussocks that Mrs.
Sparrow chose for their nest, for, of
course, she had the final say in so
important matter. On the tussock
they built the nest. 1t was a good
nest, for in this important matter
Little Friend and his mate are very
particular. There was nothing fancy
about it, but it was substantial, the
foundation and outer walls of fairly
coarse grasses, weeds and rootlets,
while the whole was lined with fine
grasses and little hair that Mrs
Little Friend had discovered.
What I can't understand" said
she, lis how some folks can be 50
slipshod and careless in their nest
building. Why, have seen nests so
fiimsy that it was wonder to me
that the babies didn't fall out before
they were big enough to fly"
The coarse grass of the tussock
had grown fast, as such grass does,
and, despite the size of the nest, it
was we'll hidden. Surrounding bushes
also gave protection. In due course
there were four eggs, and the Little
Friends settled down to the joyous
task Of keeping those precious eggs
covered and warm, taking turns in
sitting on the nest, although Mrs.
Little Friend did the larger share Of
this. It wasn't because Little Friend
wasn't ready and willing to do his
part, but because she wanted to. She
loved those eggs because of the babies
that would come from them and she
loved to sit on them and dream while
she listened to Little Friend singing
his heart out to her.
1t was the day that the last eggs
were laid that it was discovered that
they were to have neighbors, and
very near neighbors, at that. just to
one side and hardly more than a
foot from that tussock was a patch
of sand and pebbles Little Friend,
returning from a peep at those pre-
ciolls eggs, discovered a couple of
very busy little people looking over
that pebbly patch. They bobbed and
bowed and teetered in the most anus
Ing way, for they seemed to be very
delicately balanced on slim, quite
long legs. That is, the legs were long
for the size OF the owners. Their
necks were long, too, and so we're their
bills.
Little Friend knew them well. They
were old friends, Mr.. and Mrs. Teeter
the Spotted Sandpipers. Little Friend
had often seen them along the shore
Of the Smiling Pool and bobbing and
bowling on stones in the Laughing
Brook. Just now they gave him no