By Miss H.F. Gould.
We were shown a beautiful specimen of the ingenuity of birds, a few days since, by Dr. Cook. It was a bird's-nest made entirely of silver wires, beautifully woven together. The nest was found on a sycamore tree, by Dr. Francis Beard, of York County. It was the nest of a hanging-bird; and the material was probably obtained from a soldier's epaulette, which it had found. — West Chester Village Record.
- A stranded soldier's epaulette
- The waters cast ashore,
- A little winged rover met,
- And eyed it o'er and o'er.
- The silver bright so pleased her sight,
- On that lone idle vest;
- She knew not why she should deny,
- Herself a silver nest.
- The shining wire she pecked and twirled,
- The bore it to her bough,
- Where on a flowery twig 'twas curled,
- The birds can show you how.
- But when enough of that bright stuff
- The cunning builder bore,
- Her house to make — she would not take,
- Nor did she covet more.
- And when the little artisan,
- While neither pride nor guilt,
- Had entered in her pretty plan,
- Her resting place had built;
- With here and there a plume to spare
- About her own light form,
- Of these, inlaid, with skill she made
- A lining, soft and warm.
- But do thou think the tender brood
- She fondled there and fed,
- Were prouder when they understood
- The sheen about their bed?
- Do you suppose they ever rose,
- Of higher powers possessed,
- Because they knew they peeped and grew
- Within a silver nest?