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SONG SPARROW
XII
MY BIRD FAMILY
A great big family—that's what my bird neighbors
are to me. This large family is made up of
smaller families. Let me set them all down in a row:
There are the bluebirds, meadowlarks, killdeers, song
sparrows, robins, purple martins, goldfinches, wrens,
orioles, thrashers, thrushes, waxwings, flycatchers,
pewee, phœbe, and the redheaded woodpecker. Oh,
there is one more. I would by no means slight the
humble chimney swift. When I hear that "Gitse
gitse" twitter, then I know that they, too, have come.
From early March when the first bluebird arrives,
until late May when pewee comes, I am like a mother
who waits at evening, unsatisfied until all her children
are in for the night. When I hear the call of
the latest comer, the sweet-voiced pewee, then I
know that my absent ones have all returned.
Add to these the Bob Whites, the cardinals, blue-
