st. As for the inside, they lined that with soft, fine
grasses, because they expected to keep something precious in that nest
before a great while.

IX

JOHNNIE GREEN INTRUDES

BOBBY BOBOLINK and his wife had finished their new nest.

"There!" Mrs. Bobolink exclaimed, as she gave the lining of soft grasses
a final pat. "There's not another thing to be done to it."

"It's perfect!" Bobby told her. "But I think I can make one slight
improvement, for we mustn't forget Henry Hawk." And while his wife
looked on somewhat anxiously he bent a few grass stalks over so that
they completely hid the nest from anybody passing overhead.

"Henry Hawk will never spy our nest now," Bobby remarked a few minutes
later, as he flew back and forth over the spot and tried in vain to
catch a glimpse of their new home. "If I can't see it as near as I am,
Henry Hawk will never find it as he sails high above the meadow, for all
his eyes are terribly sharp."

Mrs. Bobolink then told her husband that his improvement was a fine one.
And Bobby was so well pleased that he sang a song for his wife, while
she rested from her labors.

After that they flew off and told all their friends that their new home
was built. But they didn't invite anybody to a house-warming, for that
was not their way. They never so much as told people where their house
was hidden. They were afraid that some gossip might drop a hint to old
Mr. Crow, or his noisy cousin, Jasper Jay, or perhaps Mr. Blackbird.
And later there would be something in the nest that would have made a
dainty meal for any one of those rascals. No! Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink did
not intend to have their nest robbed of its treasure--not if they could
help it!

Now, it was only a short time later that Bobby Bobolink and his wife
shared a wonderful secret. Five grayish-white eggs, each quite pointed
at one end, lay in their nest. And nobody but themselves was a bit the
wiser.

To be sure, the neighbors remarked that Bobby Bobolink was simply
bursting with song. He was more musical than ever. But they never
dreamed what it was that could make him even happier than he had
always been.

At last there came a time when Bobby--though he was just as
happy--seemed to have less leisure for singing. And then it was
easy for the neighbors to guess the reason for that, because it
was plain that the Bobolink family was not gathering great numbers
of grasshoppers and caterpillars merely for the fun of it.