Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 March 1901 — Phoebe’s Friend. [ARTICLE]

Phoebe’s Friend.

At John Burroughs’ home In the little village of Weatpark, on the Hudson, there are the usual number of bird comedies and tragedies to be found in all leafy retreats, only here is some one to chronicle them and to act as a friend in need. Says a writer in the Outlook: Under the edges of a villa on the hillside near Mr. Burroughs’ home, a phoebe had built her nest There, within arm’s reach of the piazza, the bird was quietly hatcliiag her eggs, undisturbed by the proximity of human neighbors. “I saw her building her nest,” said Mr. Burroughs, "and noticed that she did not seem to have any bump es locality. She Would come flying up here, her beak loaded with mud, and drop It on the rafters. Each time she seemed to forget where she had deposited her load, and the result was that she soon had the building of four or five houses on her hands. "I thought this was rather more than one small bird ought to undertake, so I Interrupted tb4 building operations by pitting stones or blocks of wood on the foundations of all except one of the nests, and In this way concentrated the attention of phoebe upon a •ingle site. “This set her on the right path, and •he went ahead and finished up a house, the one she Is using now.”