You shall hear of all these, and learn where each one lives, in the bird stories I am going to write for you.

But now let us go down by the river and see what some of these newly arrived birds are doing after their long journey.
"Hark! I hear the notes of a Thrasher in those bushes, and the Red-winged Blackbirds are calling all through the marsh meadow.

When I was a boy the alder bushes were always full of nests." "They have nests there now," said Rap eagerly; "a great many nests, and they are very pretty.

Ah! There is the big brown bird that you call a Thrasher, with his striped breast and long tail that spreads like a fan.
I see him--he is building in that barberry bush!" "Then the nest comes pretty soon after the up-journey," said Nat.
"Yes," answered the Doctor, as he watched the antics of the Thrasher; "right after the journey the mate, and next the nest.

Do not forget the mate, Nat, for it is Mrs.Bird who usually makes the nest and _always_ lays the eggs, besides working in the guilds with her husband, whose greatest distinction is in being the family musician." "When do the Summer Citizens begin to come back to their nesting places ?" asked Nat.