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+Project Gutenberg's Little Brothers of the Air, by Olive Thorne Miller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Little Brothers of the Air
+
+Author: Olive Thorne Miller
+
+Release Date: November 16, 2008 [EBook #27277]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  By Olive Thorne Miller.
+
+  BIRD-WAYS. 16mo, $1.25.
+
+  IN NESTING TIME. 16mo, $1.25.
+
+  LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR. $1.25.
+
+  HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
+  BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+  LITTLE BROTHERS OF
+  THE AIR
+
+  BY
+
+  OLIVE THORNE MILLER
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+  HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
+  The Riverside Press, Cambridge
+  1893
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1892,
+  BY H.M. MILLER.
+
+  _All rights reserved._
+
+  _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._
+  Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton & Company.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+Some of the chapters of this little book were written in 1888, on the
+shore of the Great South Bay, Long Island; others in the northern part
+of New York State, known to its residents as the "Black River Country,"
+a year or two later. Part of them have been published in The Atlantic
+Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, The Independent and other papers.
+
+The nomenclature in the Table of Contents is that adopted by the
+American Ornithological Society.
+
+OLIVE THORNE MILLER.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY.
+
+                                                         PAGE
+
+  I. THE KINGBIRD'S NEST                                    1
+
+    Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._
+
+  II. A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS                    19
+
+    Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._
+
+  III. THE BABES IN THE WOOD                               34
+
+    Flicker. _Colaptes auratus._
+
+  IV. HOME LIFE OF THE REDSTART                            48
+
+    American Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._
+
+  V. WHEN NESTING IS OVER                                  61
+
+    Thrasher. _Harporhynchus rufus._
+
+    White-bellied Swallow. _Tachycineta bicolor._
+
+    Wood Pewee. _Contopus virens._
+
+    Bluebird. _Sialia sialis._
+
+  VI. IN SEARCH OF THE BLUEJAY                             76
+
+    Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._
+
+  VII. IN THE WOOD LOT                                     83
+
+    Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._
+
+  VIII. THE BLUEJAY BABY                                   89
+
+    Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._
+
+
+  IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY.
+
+  IX. THAT WITCHING SONG                                   99
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  X. THE VEERY MOTHER                                     107
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  XI. THE TAWNY THRUSH'S BROOD                            114
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  XII. A MEADOW NEST                                      123
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  XIII. A JUNE ROUND OF CALLS                             130
+
+    Wood Pewee. _Contopus virens._
+
+    Junco. _Junco hyemalis._
+
+    Flicker. _Colaptes auratus._
+
+    Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._
+
+    Sapsucker. _Sphyrapicus varius._
+
+  XIV. A BOBOLINK RHAPSODY                                138
+
+    Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
+
+  XV. THE BOBOLINK'S NEST                                 146
+
+    Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
+
+  XVI. THE TANAGER'S NEST                                 155
+
+    Scarlet Tanager. _Piranga erythromelas._
+
+  XVII. THE WILES OF A WARBLER                            163
+
+    Black-throated Blue. _Dendroica coerulescens._
+
+  XVIII. A RAINY-DAY TRAMP                                173
+
+    Oven-bird. _Seiurus aurocapillus._
+
+  XIX. THE VAGARIES OF A WARBLER                          180
+
+    Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._
+
+    Chestnut-sided W. _Dendroica pensylvanica._
+
+  XX. A CLEVER CUCKOO                                     190
+
+    Black-billed C. _Coccyzus erythrophthalmus._
+
+  XXI. TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS                                201
+
+    Sapsucker. _Sphyrapicus varius._
+
+    Red-headed Woodpecker. _Melanerpes erythrocephalus._
+
+  XXII. FROM MY WINDOW                                    221
+
+    Phoebe. _Sayornis phoebe._
+
+    Robin. _Merula migratoria._
+
+    Great-crested Fly-catcher. _Myiarchus crinitus._
+
+    Purple Grackle. _Quiscalus quiscula._
+
+    Downy Woodpecker. _Dryobates pubescens._
+
+    Chestnut-sided Warbler. _Dendroica pensylvanica._
+
+    Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._
+
+  XXIII. THE COMICAL CROW BABY                            236
+
+    Common Crow. _Corvus americanus._
+
+  XXIV. A MIDSUMMER WOOING                                244
+
+    American Goldfinch. _Spinus tristis._
+
+  XXV. A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE                                252
+
+    American Goldfinch. _Spinus tristis._
+
+  XXVI. SOLITARY THE THRUSH                               259
+
+    Hermit Thrush. _Turdus aonalaschkoe pallasii._
+
+  INDEX                                                   269
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY.
+
+
+
+
+  Precious qualities of silence haunt
+  Round these vast margins ministrant.
+
+  'T is here, 't is here, thou canst unhand thy heart
+  And breathe it free, and breathe it free
+  By rangy marsh, in lone sea-liberty.
+
+  SIDNEY LANIER.
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE KINGBIRD'S NEST.
+
+
+To study a nest is to make an acquaintance. However familiar the bird,
+unless the student has watched its ways during the only domestic period
+of its life,--nesting time,--he has still something to learn. In fact,
+he has almost everything to learn, for into those few weeks is crowded a
+whole lifetime of emotions and experiences which fully bring out the
+individuality of the bird. Family life is a test of character, no less
+in the nest than in the house. Moreover, to a devotee of the science
+that some one has aptly called Ornithography, nothing is so attractive.
+What hopes it holds out! Who can guess what mysteries shall be
+disclosed, what interesting episodes of life shall be seen about that
+charmed spot?
+
+To find a newly built nest is the first June work of the bird-student,
+and this year on the Great South Bay a particularly inviting one
+presented itself, on the top branch of a tall oak-tree near my "inn of
+rest." It was in plain sight from the veranda. The builder evidently
+cared nothing for concealment, and relied, with reason, upon its
+inaccessible position for safety. To be sure, as days went by and oak
+leaves grew, a fair screen for the little dwelling was not lacking; but
+summer breezes were kind, and often blew them aside, and, better still,
+from other points of view the nest was never hidden.
+
+To whom, then, did the nest belong? I hoped to the kingbird, who at that
+moment sat demurely upon the picket fence below, apparently interested
+only in passing insects; and while I looked the question was answered by
+Madame Tyrannis herself, who came with the confidence of ownership,
+carrying a beakful of building material, and arranging it with great
+pains inside the structure. This was satisfactory, for I did not know
+the kingbird in domestic life.
+
+For several days it seemed uncertain whether the kingbirds would ever
+really occupy the nest, so spasmodic was the work upon it. Now one of
+the pair came with a bit of something, placed it, tried its effect this
+way and that, and then disappeared; while for hours every day both might
+be seen about the place, hunting insects and taking their ease on the
+fence as if no thought of nesting ever stirred their wise little heads.
+The last addition to the domicile was curious: a soft white feather from
+the poultry yard, which was fastened up on the edge, and stood there
+floating in the breeze; a white banner of peace flung out to the world
+from her castle walls.
+
+Peace from a kingbird? Direful tales are told of this bird: "he is
+pugnacious," says one writer; "he fights everybody," adds another; "he
+is a coward," remarks a third. Science has dubbed him tyrant
+(_Tyrannis_), and his character is supposed to be settled. But may there
+not be two sides to the story? We shall see. One kingbird, at least,
+shall be studied sympathetically; we shall try to enter his life, to
+judge him fairly, and shall above all
+
+                         "bring not
+  The fancies found in books,
+  Leave author's eyes, and fetch our own."
+
+Nearly two months that small dwelling on the oak was watched, day after
+day, early and late, in storm and in sunshine; now I know at least one
+family of kingbirds, and what I know I shall honestly tell, "nothing
+extenuating."
+
+The house was built, the season was passing, yet housekeeping did not
+begin. The birds, indeed, appeared to have abandoned the tree, and days
+went by in which I could not see that either visited it. But the nest
+was not deserted, for all that; the curiosity and impertinence of the
+neighbors were simply amazing. (Perhaps the kingbird has some reason to
+be pugnacious!) No sooner was that tenement finished than, as promptly
+as if they had received cards to a house-warming, visitors began to
+come. First to show himself was an orchard oriole, who was in the habit
+of passing over the yard every day and stopping an hour or more in the
+neighborhood, while he scrambled over the trees, varying his lunches
+with a rich and graceful song. Arrived this morning in the kingbird
+tree, he began his usual hunt over the top branch, when suddenly his eye
+fell upon the kingbird cradle. He paused, cast a wary glance about, then
+dropped to a lower perch, his singing ended, his manner guilty. Nearer
+and nearer he drew, looking cautiously about and moving in perfect
+silence. Still the owner did not come, and at last the stranger stood
+upon the edge. What joy! He looked that mansion over from foundation to
+banner fluttering in the wind; he examined closely its construction;
+with head turned over one side, he criticised its general effect, and
+apparently did not think much of it; he gratified to the full his
+curiosity, and after about one minute's study flew to the next tree, and
+resumed his singing.
+
+The next arrival was a pewee, whose own nest was nearly built, in a
+wild-cherry tree not far off. The fence under the oak was his usual
+perch, and it was plain that he made his first call with "malice
+aforethought;" for, disdaining the smallest pretense of interest in it,
+he flew directly to the nest, hovered beneath it, and pulled out some
+part of the building material that pleased his fancy,--nothing less than
+pure thievery.
+
+Among the occasional visitors to the yard were two American goldfinches,
+or thistle-birds, in bright yellow and black plumage, both males. They
+also went to the new homestead in the oak, inspected it, chatted over it
+in their sweet tones, and then passed on. It began to look as though the
+nest were in the market for any one to choose, and the string of company
+was not yet ended.
+
+Soon after the goldfinches had passed by, there alighted a gay Baltimore
+oriole, who, not content with looking at the new castle in the air, must
+needs try it. He actually stepped into the nest and settled down as if
+sitting. Who knows but he was experimenting to see if this simple,
+wide-open cradle wouldn't do as well for oriole babies as for kingbirds?
+Certainly it was a curious performance. It made an impression on him
+too, for the next day he came again; and this time he picked at it, and
+seemed to be changing its interior arrangement, but he carried nothing
+away when he flew. Even after sitting began, this oriole paid two more
+visits to the nest which so interested him. On the first occasion, the
+owner was at home, and gave him instant notice that the place was no
+longer on view. He retired, but, being no coward, and not choosing to
+submit to dictation, he came again. This time, a fly-up together, a
+clinch in the air, with loud and offensive remarks, cured him of further
+desire to call.
+
+More persistent than any yet mentioned was a robin. Heretofore, strange
+to say, the guests had all been males, but this caller was the mother of
+a young brood in the next yard. She came in her usual way, alighted on a
+low branch, ran out upon it, hopped to the next higher, and so proceeded
+till she reached the nest. The kingbird happened to be near it himself,
+and drove her away in an indifferent manner, as if this interloper were
+of small account. The robin went, of course, but returned, and, perching
+close to the object of interest, leaned over and looked at it as long as
+she chose, while the owner stood calmly by on a twig and did not
+interfere. I know he was not afraid of the robin, as later events
+proved; and it really looked as if the pair deliberately delayed sitting
+to give the neighborhood a chance to satisfy its curiosity; as if they
+thus proclaimed to whom it might concern that there was to be a kingbird
+household, that they might view it at their leisure before it was
+occupied, but after that no guests were desired. Whatever the cause, the
+fact is, that once completed, the nest was almost entirely abandoned by
+the builders for several days, during which this neighborhood inspection
+went on. They even deserted their usual hunting-ground, and might
+generally be seen at the back of the house, awaiting their prey in the
+most unconcerned manner.
+
+However, time was passing, and one day Madame Tyrannis herself began to
+call, but fitfully. Sometimes she stayed about the nest one minute,
+sometimes five minutes, but was restless; picking at the walls,
+twitching the leaves that hung too near, rearranging the lining, trying
+it this way and that, as if to see how it fitted her figure, and how she
+should like it when she was settled. First she tried sitting with face
+looking toward the bay; then she jerked herself around, without rising,
+and looked awhile toward the house. She had as much trouble to get
+matters adjusted to her mind as if she had a houseful of furniture to
+place, with carpets to lay, curtains to hang, and the thousand and one
+"things" with which we bigger housekeepers cumber ourselves and make
+life a burden. This spasmodic visitation went on for days, and finally
+it was plain that sitting had begun. Still the birds of the vicinity
+were interested callers, and I began to think that one kingbird would
+not even protect his nest, far less justify his reputation by
+tyrannizing over the feathered world. But when his mate had seriously
+established herself, it was time for the head of the household to assume
+her defense, and he did.
+
+As usual, the kingbird united the characters of brave defender and
+tender lover. To his spouse his manners were charming. When he came to
+relieve her of her care, to give her exercise or a chance for luncheon,
+he greeted her with a few low notes, and alighted on a small leafless
+twig that curved up about a foot above the nest, and made a perfect
+watch-tower. She slipped off her seat and disappeared for about six
+minutes. During her absence he stayed at his post, sometimes changing
+his perch to one or other of half a dozen leafless branchlets in that
+part of the tree, and there sitting, silent and watchful, ready to
+interview any stranger who appeared. Upon her return he again saluted
+her with a few words, adding to them a lifting of wings and spreading of
+his beautiful tail that most comically suggested the bowing and
+hat-lifting of bigger gentlemen. In all their life together, even when
+the demands of three infants kept them busy from morning till night, he
+never forgot this little civility to his helpmate. If she alighted
+beside him on the fence, he rose a few inches above his perch, and flew
+around in a small circle while greeting her; and sometimes, on her
+return to the nest, he described a larger circle, talking (as I must
+call it) all the time. Occasionally, when she approached, he flew out to
+meet and come back with her, as if to escort her. Could this bird, to
+his mate so thoughtful and polite, be to the rest of the world the bully
+he is pictured? Did he, who for ten months of the year shows less
+curiosity about others, and attends more perfectly to his own business
+than any bird I have noticed, suddenly, at this crisis in his life,
+become aggressive, and during these two months of love and paternity and
+hard work, make war upon a peaceful neighborhood?
+
+I watched closely. There was not an hour of the day, often from four
+A.M. to eight P.M., that I had not the kingbird and his nest directly in
+sight, and hardly a movement of his life escaped me. There he stood, on
+the fence under his tree, on a dead bush at the edge of the bay, or on
+the lowest limb of a small pear-tree in the yard. Sometimes he dashed
+into the air for his prey; sometimes he dropped to the ground to secure
+it; but oftenest, especially when baby throats grew clamorous, he
+hovered over the rank grass on the low land of the shore, wings beating,
+tail wide spread, diving now and then for an instant to snatch a morsel;
+and every thirty minutes, as punctually as if he carried a watch in his
+trim white vest, he took a direct line for the home where his mate sat
+waiting.
+
+A few days after the little dame took possession of the nest, the
+kingbird had succeeded, without much trouble, in making most of his
+fellow-creatures understand that he laid claim to the upper branches of
+the oak, and was prepared to defend them against all comers, and they
+simply gave the tree a wide berth in passing.
+
+Apparently deceived by his former indifference, however, the robin above
+mentioned presumed to call somewhat later. This time she was received in
+a manner that plainly showed she was no longer welcome. She retired, but
+she expressed her mind freely for some time, sitting on the fence below.
+With true robin persistence she did not give it up, and she selected for
+her next call the dusk of evening, just before going to bed.
+
+This time both kingbirds flung themselves after her, and she left,
+"laughing" as she went. The kingbirds did not follow beyond their own
+borders, and the robin soon returned to the nearest tree, where she
+kept up the taunting "he! he! he!" a long time, seemingly with
+deliberate intention to insult or enrage her pursuers, but without
+success; for unless she came to their tree, the kingbirds paid her not
+the slightest attention.
+
+The last time the robin tried to be on friendly terms with her neighbor,
+I noticed her standing near him on the picket fence under his tree.
+There were not more than three pickets between them, and she was
+expostulating earnestly, with flirting tail and jerking wings, and with
+loud "tut! tut's," and "he! he's!" she managed to be very eloquent. Had
+he driven her from his nest? and was she complaining? I could only
+guess. The kingbird did not reply to her, but when she flew he followed,
+and she did not cease telling him what she thought of him as she flew,
+till out of sight.
+
+Strangest of all was the fact that, during the whole of this scene, her
+mate stood on the fence within a dozen feet, and looked on! Did he think
+her capable of managing her own affairs? Did he prefer to be on good
+terms with his peppery neighbor? or was it because with her it would be
+a war of words, while if he entered the arena it must be a fight? as we
+sometimes see, when a man goes home fighting drunk, every man of the
+neighborhood keeps out of sight, while all the women go out and help
+his wife to get him home. The most troublesome meddler was, as might be
+expected, an English sparrow. From the time when the first stick was
+laid till the babies were grown and had left the tree, that bird never
+ceased to intrude and annoy. He visited the nest when empty; he managed
+to have frequent peeps at the young; and notwithstanding he was driven
+off every time, he still hung around, with prying ways so exasperating
+that he well deserved a thrashing, and I wonder he did not get it. He
+was driven away repeatedly, and he was "picked off" from below, and
+pounced upon from above, but he never failed to return.
+
+Another visitor of whom the kingbird seemed suspicious was a purple crow
+blackbird, who every day passed over. This bird and the common crow were
+the only ones he drove away without waiting for them to alight; and if
+half that is told of them be true, he had reason to do so.
+
+With none of these intruders had the kingbird any quarrel when away from
+his nest. The blackbird, to whom he showed the most violence, hunted
+peacefully beside him on the grass all day; the robin alighted near him
+on the fence, as usual; the orioles scrambled over the neighboring
+trees, singing, and eating, as was their custom; even the English
+sparrow carried on his vulgar squabbles on his own branch of the oak all
+day; but to none of them did the kingbird pay the slightest attention.
+He simply and solely defended his own household.
+
+In the beginning the little dame took sitting very easy, fidgeting about
+in the nest, standing up to dress her feathers, stretching her neck to
+see what went on in the yard below, and stepping out upon a neighboring
+twig to rest herself. After a few days she settled more seriously to
+work, and became very quiet and patient. Her mate never brought food to
+her, nor did he once take her place in the nest; not even during a
+furious northeast gale that turned June into November, and lasted
+thirty-six hours, most of the time with heavy rain, when the top branch
+bent and tossed, and threatened every moment a catastrophe. In the
+house, fires were built and books and work brought out; but the
+bird-student, wrapped in heavy shawls, kept close watch from an open
+window, and noted well the bad-weather manners of Tyrannis. Madame sat
+very close, head to the northeast, and tail, narrowed to the width of
+one feather, pressed against a twig that grew up behind the nest. All
+through the storm, I think the head of the family remained in a
+sheltered part of the tree, but he did not come to the usual twigs which
+were so exposed. I know he was near, for I heard him, and occasionally
+saw him standing with body horizontal instead of upright, as usual, the
+better to maintain his position against the wind. At about the ordinary
+intervals the sitter left her nest, without so much as a leaf to cover
+it, and was absent perhaps half as long as common, but not once did her
+mate assume her post.
+
+How were this pair distinguished from each other, since there is no
+difference in their dress? First, by a fortunate peculiarity of marking;
+the male had one short tail feather, that, when he was resting, showed
+its white tip above the others, and made a perfectly distinct and (with
+a glass) plainly visible mark. Later, when I had become familiar with
+the very different manners of the pair, I did not need this mark to
+distinguish the male, though it remained _en evidence_ all through the
+two months I had them under observation.
+
+During the period of sitting, life went on with great regularity. The
+protector of the nest perched every night in a poplar-tree across the
+yard, and promptly at half past four o'clock every morning began his
+matins. Surprised and interested by an unfamiliar song, I rose one day
+at that unnatural hour to trace it home. It was in that enchanting time
+when men are still asleep in their nests, and even "My Lord Sun" has
+not arisen from his; when the air is sweet and fresh, and as free from
+the dust of man's coming and going as if his tumults did not exist. It
+was so still that the flit of a wing was almost startling. The water
+lapped softly against the shore; but who can
+
+  "Write in a hook the morning's prime,
+  Or match with words that tender sky"?
+
+The song that had called me up was a sweet though simple strain, and it
+was repeated every morning while his mate was separated from him by her
+nest duties. I can find no mention of it in books, but I had many
+opportunities to study it, and thus it was. It began with a low kingbird
+"Kr-r-r" (or rolling sound impossible to express by letters), without
+which I should not have identified it at first, and it ended with a very
+sweet call of two notes, five tones apart, the lower first, after a
+manner suggestive of the phoebe--something like this:
+"Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-bé! Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-bé!" In the outset, and I think I
+heard the very first attempt, it resembled the initial efforts of
+cage-birds, when spring tunes their throats. The notes seemed hard to
+get out; they were weak, uncertain, fluttering, as if the singer were
+practicing something quite new. But as the days went by they grew strong
+and assured, and at last were a joyous and loud morning greeting. I
+don't know why I should be so surprised to hear a kingbird sing; for I
+believe that one of the things we shall discover, when we begin to study
+birds alive instead of dead, is that every one has a song, at least in
+spring, when, in the words of an enthusiastic bird-lover, "the smallest
+become poets, often sublime songsters." I have already heard several
+sing that are set down as lacking in that mode of expression.
+
+To return to my kingbird, struggling with his early song. After
+practicing perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, he left his perch, flew
+across the yard, and circled around the top bough, with his usual
+good-morning to his partner, who at once slipped off and went for her
+breakfast, while he stayed to watch the nest.
+
+This magic dawn could not last. It grew lighter; the sun was bestirring
+himself. I heard oars on the bay; and now that the sounds of men began,
+the robin mounted the fence and sang his waking song. The rogue!--he had
+been "laughing" and shouting for an hour. "Awake! awake!" he seemed to
+say; and on our dreamy beds we hear him, and think it the first sound of
+the new day. Then, too, came the jubilee of the English sparrow,
+welcoming the appearance of mankind, whose waste and improvidence supply
+so easily his larder. Why should he spend his time hunting insects? The
+kitchen will open, the dining-room follows, and crumbs are sure to
+result. He will wait, and meanwhile do his best to waken his purveyor.
+
+I found this to be the almost invariable programme of kingbird life at
+this period: after matins, the singer flew to the nest tree, and his
+spouse went to her breakfast; in a few seconds he dropped to the edge of
+the nest, looked long and earnestly at the contents, then flew to one of
+his usual perching-places near by, and remained in silence till he saw
+the little mother coming. During the day he relieved her at the
+intervals mentioned, and at night, when she had settled to rest, he
+stayed at his post on the fence till almost too dark to be seen, and
+then took his way, with a good-night greeting, to his sleeping-place on
+the poplar.
+
+Thus matters went through June till the 29th, when, at about four
+o'clock in the afternoon, there was an unusual stir about the kingbird
+castle. I saw that something had happened, and this must open a new
+chapter. But before beginning the chronicle of the kingbird babies, I
+should like to give my testimony about _one_ member of the family. As a
+courteous and tender spouse, as a devoted father and a brave defender of
+his household, I know no one who outranks him. In attending to his own
+business and never meddling with others, he is unexcelled. In regard to
+his fighting, he has driven many away from his tree, as do all birds,
+but he never sought a quarrel; and the only cases of anything like a
+personal encounter were with the two birds who insisted on annoying him.
+He is chivalrous to young birds not his own, as will appear in the story
+of his family. He is, indeed, usually silent, perhaps even solemn, but
+he may well be so; he has an important duty to perform in the world, and
+one that should bring him thanks and protection instead of scorn and a
+bad name. It is to reduce the number of man's worst enemies, the vast
+army of insects. What we owe to the fly-catchers, indeed, we can never
+guess, although, if we go on destroying them, we may have our eyes
+opened most thoroughly. Even if the most serious charge against the
+kingbird is true, that he eats bees, it were better that every bee on
+the face of the earth should perish than that his efficient work among
+other insects should be stopped.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS.
+
+
+There was
+
+  "Riot of roses and babel of birds,
+  All the world in a whirl of delight,"
+
+when the three baby kingbirds opened their eyes to the June sunlight.
+Three weeks I had watched, if I had not assisted at, the rocking of
+their cradle, followed day by day the patient brooding, and carefully
+noted the manners and customs of the owners thereof. At last my long
+vigil was rewarded. It was near the end of a lovely June day, when June
+days were nearly over, that there appeared a gentle excitement in the
+kingbird family. The faithful sitter arose, with a peculiar cry that
+brought her mate at once to her side, and both looked eagerly together
+into the nest that held their hopes. Once or twice the little dame
+leaned over and made some arrangements within, and then suddenly she
+slipped back into her place, and her spouse flew away. But something had
+happened, it was plain to see; for from that moment she did not sit so
+closely, her mate showed unusual interest in the nest, and both of them
+often stood upon the edge at the same time. That day was doubtless the
+birthday of the first little king.
+
+To be sure, the careful mother still sat on the nest part of every day,
+but that she continued to do, with ever-lengthening intervals, till
+every infant had grown up and left the homestead forever.
+
+All through the sitting the work of the head of the family had been
+confined to encouraging his partner with an early morning song and his
+cheerful presence during the day, and to guarding the nest while she
+sought her food; but now that her most fatiguing labor was over, his
+began. At first he took entire charge of the provision supply, while she
+kept her nurslings warm and quiet, which every mother, little or big,
+knows is of great importance. When the young father arrived with food,
+which he did frequently, his spouse stepped to the nearest twig and
+looked on with interest, while he leaned over and filled one little
+mouth, or at any rate administered one significant poke which must be
+thus interpreted. He did not stay long; indeed, he had not time, for
+this way of supplying the needs of a family is slow business; and
+although there were but three mouths to fill, three excursions and three
+hunts were required to fill them. In the early morning he seemed to
+have more leisure; at that time, the happy young couple stood one each
+side of the nest, and the silent listener would hear the gentle murmurs
+of what Victor Hugo calls "the airy dialogues of the nest." Ah, that our
+dull ears could understand!
+
+For some days the homestead was never left alone, and the summer breezes
+
+  "Softly rocked the babies three,
+  Nestled under the mother's wing,"
+
+almost as closely as before they came out of the egg. But much of the
+time she sat on the edge, while her partner came and went, always
+lingering a moment to look in. It was pretty to see him making up his
+mind where to put the morsel, so small that it did not show in the beak.
+He turned his head one side and then the other, considered, decided, and
+at last thrust it in the selected mouth.
+
+The resting-time of the newly made matron was short; for when those
+youngsters were four days old--so fast do birdlings grow--the labor of
+both parents was required to keep them fed. Every ten minutes of the day
+one of the pair came to the nest: the father invariably alighted,
+deliberated, fed, and then flew; while the mother administered her
+mouthful, and then either slipped into the nest, covering her bantlings
+completely, or rested upon the edge for several minutes. There was
+always a marked difference in the conduct of the pair.
+
+Six days the kingbird babies were unseen from below; but on the seventh
+day of their life two downy gray caps were lifted above the edge of the
+dwelling, accompanied by two small yellow beaks, half open for what
+goods the gods might provide. After that event, whenever the tender
+mother sat on her nest, two--and later three--little heads showed
+plainly against her satiny white breast, as if they were resting there,
+making a lovely picture of motherhood.
+
+Not for many days lasted the open-mouth baby stage in these rapidly
+developing youngsters. Very soon they were pert and wide awake, looking
+upon the green world about them with calm eyes, and opening mouths only
+when food was to be expected. Mouthfuls, too, were no longer of the
+minute order; they were large enough for the parents themselves, and of
+course plain to be seen. Sometimes, indeed, as in the case of a big
+dragon-fly, the father was obliged to hold on, while the young hopeful
+pulled off piece after piece, until it was small enough for him to
+manage; occasionally, too, when the morsel was particularly hard, the
+little king passed it back to the giver, who stood waiting, and received
+it again when it had been apparently crushed or otherwise prepared, so
+that he could swallow it.
+
+Midsummer was at hand. The voices of young birds were heard on every
+side. The young thrasher and the robin chirped in the grove; sweet
+bluebird and pewee baby cries came from the shrubbery; the golden-wing
+leaned far out of his oaken walls, and called from morning to night.
+Hard-working parents rushed hither and thither, snatching, digging, or
+dragging their prey from every imaginable hiding-place. It was woful
+times in the insect world, so many new hungry mouths to be filled. All
+this life seemed to stir the young kings: they grew restless; they were
+late. Their three little heads, growing darker every day, bobbed this
+way and that; they changed places in the nest; they thrust out small
+wings; above all and through all, they violently preened themselves. In
+fact, this elaborate dressing of feathers was their constant business
+for so long a time that I thought it no wonder the grown-up kingbird
+pays little attention to his dress; he does enough pluming in the
+nursery to last a lifetime.
+
+On the twelfth day of their life, the young birds added their voices to
+the grand world-chorus in a faint, low "che-up," delivered with a
+kingbird accent; then, also, they began to sit up calmly, and look over
+the edge of the nest at what went on below, quite in the manner of
+their fathers. Two days later, the first little king mounted the walls
+of his castle, fluttered his wings, and apparently meditated the grand
+plunge into the world outside of home. So absorbed was he in his new
+emotions that he did not see the arrival of something to eat, and put in
+a claim for his share, as usual. I thought he was about to bid farewell
+to his birthplace. But I did not know him. Not till the youngest of the
+family was ready to go did he step out of the nest,--the three were
+inseparable. While I waited, expecting every moment to see him fly,
+there was a sudden change in the air, and very shortly a furious storm
+of wind and rain broke over us. Instantly every young bird subsided into
+the nest, out of sight; and in a few minutes their mother came, and gave
+them the protection of her presence.
+
+Several days were spent by the oak-tree household in shaking out the
+wings, taking observations of the world, dressing the feathers, and
+partaking of luncheon every few minutes. Such a nestful of restlessness
+I never saw; the constant wonder was that they managed not to fall out.
+Often the three sat up side by side on the edge, white breasts shining
+in the sun, and heads turning every way with evident interest. The dress
+was now almost exactly like the parents'. No speckled bib, like the
+bluebird or robin infant's, defaces the snowy breast; no ugly gray coat,
+like the redwing baby's, obscures the beauty of the little kingbird's
+attire. He enters society in full dress.
+
+But each day, now, the trio grew in size, in repose of manner, and in
+strength of voice; and before long they sat up hours at a time, patient,
+silent, and ludicrously resembling the
+
+  "Three wise men of Gotham
+  Who went to sea in a bowl."
+
+In spite of their grown-up looks and manners, they did not lose their
+appetite; and from breakfast, at the unnatural hour of half past four in
+the morning, till a late supper, when so dark that I could see only the
+movement of feeding like a silhouette against the white clouds, all
+through the day, food came to the nest every two minutes or less. Think
+of the work of those two birds! Every mouthful brought during those
+fifteen and a half hours required a separate hunt. They usually flew out
+to a strip of low land, where the grass was thick and high. Over this
+they hovered with beautiful motion, and occasionally dropped an instant
+into the grass. The capture made, they started at once for the nest,
+resting scarcely a moment. There were thus between three and four
+hundred trips a day, and of course that number of insects were
+destroyed. Even after the salt bath, which one bird took always about
+eleven in the morning, and the other about four in the afternoon, they
+did not stop to dry their plumage; but simply passed the wing feathers
+through the beak, paying no attention to the breast feathers, which
+often hung in locks, showing the dark part next the body, and so
+disguising the birds that I scarcely knew them when they came to the
+nest.
+
+The bath was interesting. The river, so called, was in fact an arm of
+the Great South Bay, and of course salt. To get a bath, the bird flew
+directly into the water, as if after a fish; then came to the fence to
+shake himself. Sometimes the dip was repeated once or twice, but more
+often bathing ended with a single plunge.
+
+Two weeks had passed over their heads, and the three little kings had
+for several days dallied with temptation on the brink before one set
+foot outside the nest. Even then, on the fifteenth day, he merely
+reached the door-step, as it were, the branch on which it rested.
+However, that was a great advance. He shook himself thoroughly, as if
+glad to have room to do so. This venturesome infant hopped about four
+inches from the walls of the cottage, looked upon the universe from that
+remote point, then hurried back to his brothers, evidently frightened at
+his own boldness.
+
+On the day of this first adventure began a mysterious performance, the
+meaning of which I did not understand till later, when it became very
+familiar. It opened with a peculiar call, and its object was to rouse
+the young to follow. So remarkable was the effect upon them that I have
+no doubt a mob of kingbirds could be brought together by its means. It
+began, as I said, with a call, a low, prolonged cry, sounding, as nearly
+as letters can express it, like "Kr-r-r-r! Kr-r-r-r!" At the same
+moment, both parents flew in circles around the tree, a little above the
+nest, now and then almost touching it, and all the time uttering the
+strange cry. At the first sound, the three young kings mounted the edge,
+wildly excited, dressing their plumage in the most frantic manner, as if
+their lives depended on being off in an instant. It lasted but a few
+moments: the parents flew away; the youngsters calmed down.
+
+In a short time all the nestlings were accustomed to going out upon the
+branch, where they clustered together in a little row, and called and
+plumed alternately; but one after another slipped back into the dear old
+home, which they apparently found it very hard to leave. Often, upon
+coming out of the house, after the imperative demands of luncheon or
+dinner had dragged me for a time away from my absorbing study, not a
+kingbird, old or young, could be seen. The oak was deserted, the nest
+perfectly silent.
+
+"They have flown!" I thought.
+
+But no: in a few minutes small heads began show above the battlements;
+and in ten seconds after the three little kings were all in sight,
+chirping and arranging their dress with fresh vigor, after their nap.
+
+Not one of the young family tried his wings till he was seventeen days
+old. The first one flew perhaps fifteen feet, to another branch of the
+native tree, caught at a cluster of leaves, held on a few seconds, then
+scrambled to a twig and stood up. The first flight accomplished! After
+resting some minutes, he flew back home, alighting more easily this
+time, and no doubt considered himself a hero. Whatever his feelings, it
+was evident that he could fly, and he was so pleased with his success
+that he tried it again and again, always keeping within ten or fifteen
+feet of home. Soon his nest-fellows began to follow his example; and
+then it was interesting to see them, now scattered about the broad old
+tree, and then, in a little time, all back in the nest, as if they had
+never left it. After each excursion came a long rest, and every time
+they went out they flew with more freedom. Never were young birds so
+loath to leave the nursery, and never were little folk so clannish. It
+looked as if they had resolved to make that homestead on the top branch
+their headquarters for life, and, above all, never to separate. That
+night, however, came the first break, and they slept in a droll little
+row, so close that they looked as if welded into one, and about six feet
+from home. For some time after they had settled themselves the mother
+sat by them, as if she intended to stay; but when it had grown quite
+dark, her mate sailed out over the tree calling; and she,--well, the
+babies were grown up enough to be out in the world,--she went with her
+spouse to the poplar-tree.
+
+Progress was somewhat more rapid after this experience, and in a day or
+two the little kings were flying freely, by short flights, all about the
+grove, which came quite up to the fence. Now I saw the working of the
+strange migrating call above mentioned. Whenever the old birds began the
+cries and the circling flight, the young were thrown into a fever of
+excitement. One after another flew out, calling and moving in circles as
+long as he could keep it up. For five minutes the air was full of
+kingbird cries, both old and young, and then fell a sudden silence. Each
+young bird dropped to a perch, and the elders betook themselves to their
+hunting-ground as calmly as if they had not been stirring up a rout in
+the family. Usually, at the end of the affair, the youngsters found
+themselves widely apart; for they had not yet learned to fly together,
+and to be apart was, above all things, repugnant to the three. They
+began calling; and the sound was potent to reunite them. From this side
+and that, by easy stages, came a little kingbird, each flight bringing
+them nearer each other; and before two minutes had passed they were
+nestled side by side, as close as ever. There they sat an hour or two
+and uttered their cries, and there they were hunted up and fed by the
+parents. There, I almost believe, they would have stayed till doomsday,
+but for the periodical stirring up by the mysterious call. No matter how
+far they wandered,--and each day it was farther and farther,--seven
+o'clock always found them moving; and all three came back to the native
+tree for the night, though never to the nest again.
+
+No characteristic of the young kingbirds was more winning than their
+confiding and unsuspicious reception of strangers, for so soon as they
+began to frequent other trees than the one the paternal vigilance had
+made comparatively sacred to them, they were the subjects of attention.
+The English sparrow was first, as usual, to inquire into their right to
+be out of their own tree. He came near them, alighted, and began to hop
+still closer. Not in the least startled by his threatening manner, the
+nearest youngster looked at him, and began to flutter his wings, to
+call, and to move toward him, as if expecting to be fed. This was too
+much even for a sparrow; he departed.
+
+Another curious visitor was a red-eyed vireo, who, being received in the
+same innocent and childlike way, also took his leave. But this bird
+appeared to feel insulted, and in a few minutes stole back, and took
+revenge in a most peculiar way; he hovered under the twig on which the
+three were sitting, their dumpy tails hanging down in a row, and
+actually twitched the feathers of those tails! Even that did not
+frighten the little ones; they leaned far over and stared at their
+assailant, but nothing more. I looked carefully to see if the vireo had
+a nest on that tree, so strange a thing it seemed for a bird to do. The
+tree was quite tall, with few branches, an oak grown in a close grove,
+and I am sure there was no vireo nest on it; so that it was an
+absolutely gratuitous insult.
+
+In addition to supplying the constantly growing appetites of the family,
+the male kingbird did not forget to keep a sharp lookout for intruders;
+for, until the youngsters could take care of themselves, he was bound to
+protect them. One day a young robin alighted nearer to the little group
+than he considered altogether proper, and he started, full tilt, toward
+him. As he drew near, the alarmed robin uttered his baby cry, when
+instantly the kingbird wheeled and left; nor did he notice the stranger
+again, although he stayed there a long time. But when an old robin came
+to attend to his wants, that was a different matter; the kingbird went
+at once for the grown-up bird, thus proving that he spared the first one
+because of his babyhood.
+
+It was not till they were three weeks old that the little kings began to
+fly any lower than about the level of their nest. Then one came to the
+fence, and the others to the top of a grape-trellis. I hoped to see some
+indication of looking for food, and I did; but it was all looking up and
+calling on the parents; not an eye was turned earthward. Now the young
+ones began to fly more nearly together, and one could see that a few
+days' more practice would enable them to fly in a compact little flock.
+Shortly before this they had ceased to come to the native tree at night,
+and by day extended their wanderings so far that sometimes they were not
+heard for hours. Regularly, however, as night drew near, the migrating
+cry sounded in the grove, and upon going out I always found them
+together,--three
+
+  "Silver brown little birds,
+  Sitting close in the branches."
+
+These interesting bantlings were twenty-four days old when it became
+necessary for me to leave them, as they had already left me. It was a
+warm morning, near the end of July, and about half an hour before I must
+go I went out to take my last look at them. Their calls were still loud
+and frequent, and I had no difficulty in tracing them to a dead twig
+near the top of a pine-tree, where they sat close together, as usual,
+with faces to the west; lacking only in length of tail of being as big
+as their parents, yet still calling for food, and still, to all
+appearances, without the smallest notion that they could ever help
+themselves.
+
+Thus I left them.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE BABES IN THE WOOD.
+
+
+The little home in the wood was well hidden. About its door were no
+signs of life, no chips from its building, no birds lingering near, no
+external indication whatever. In silence the tenants came and went;
+neither calls, songs, nor indiscreet tapping gave hint of the presence
+of woodpeckers in the neighborhood, and food was sought out of sight and
+hearing of the carefully secluded spot. No one would have suspected what
+treasures were concealed within the rough trunk of that old oak but for
+an accident.
+
+Madam herself was the culprit. In carrying out an eggshell, broken at
+one end and of no further use, she dropped it near the foot of the tree.
+To her this was doubtless a disaster, but to me it was a treasure-trove,
+for it told her well-kept secret. The hint was taken, the home soon
+found in the heart of an oak, with entrance twenty feet from the ground,
+and close watching from a distance revealed the owner, a golden-winged
+woodpecker.
+
+The tree selected by the shy young pair for their nursery stood in a
+pleasant bit of woods, left wild, on the shore of the Great South Bay,
+"where precious qualities of silence haunt," and the delicious breath of
+the sea mingled with the fragrance of pines. One must be an enthusiast
+to spy out the secrets of a bird's life, and this pair of golden-wings
+made more than common demand on the patience of the student, so silent,
+so wary, so wisely chosen, their sanctum. Before the door hung a
+friendly oak branch, heavy with leaves, that swayed and swung with every
+breeze. Now it hid the entrance from the east, now from the west, and
+with every change of the vagrant wind the observer must choose a new
+point of view.
+
+Then the birds! Was ever a pair so quiet? Without a sound they came, on
+level path, to the nest, dropped softly to the trunk, slipped quickly
+in, and, after staying about one minute inside, departed as noiselessly
+as they came. Their color, too! One would think a bird of that size, of
+golden-brown mottled with black, with yellow feather-shafts and a
+brilliant scarlet head-band, must be conspicuous. But so perfectly did
+the soft colors harmonize with the rough, sun-touched bark, so
+misleading were the shadows of the leaves moving in the breeze, and so
+motionless was the bird flattened against the trunk, that one might look
+directly at it and not see it.
+
+For a few days the woodpeckers were so timid that I was unable to
+secure a good look at them. The marked difference of manner, however,
+convinced me that both parents were engaged in attending upon the young
+family; and as they grew less vigilant and I learned to distinguish
+them, I discovered that it was so. The only dissimilarity in dress
+between the lord and lady of the golden-wing family is a small black
+patch descending from the beak of the male, answering very well to the
+mustache of bigger "lords of creation." In coming to the nest, one of
+the pair flew swiftly, just touched for an instant the threshold, and
+disappeared within; this I found to be the head of the household. The
+other, the mother, as it proved, being more cautious, alighted at the
+door, paused, thrust her head in, withdrew it, as if undecided whether
+to venture in the presence of a stranger, and, after two or three such
+movements, darted in. Always in one minute the bird reappeared, flew at
+once out of the wood, at about the height of the nest, and did not come
+down till it reached, on one side, an old garden run to waste, or, on
+the other, far over the water, a cultivated field. At that tender age,
+the young flickers received their rations about twice in an hour.
+
+Although the golden-wings were silent, the wood around them was lively
+from morning till night. Blackbirds and cuckoos flew over; orioles,
+both orchard and Baltimore, sang and foraged among the trees;
+song-sparrows and chippies trilled from the fence at one side: bluebird
+and thrasher searched the ground, and paid in music for the privilege;
+pewees and kingbirds made war upon insects; and from afar came the notes
+of redwing and meadow-lark. Others there were, casual visitors, and of
+course it did not escape the squawks and squabbles of the English
+sparrow,--
+
+  "Irritant, iterant, maddening bird."
+
+The robins, who one sometimes wishes, with Lanier's owl, "had more to
+think and less to say," were not so self-assertive as they usually are;
+in fact, they were quite subdued. They came and went freely, but they
+never questioned my actions, as they are sure to do where they lead
+society. Now and then one perched on the fence and regarded me, with
+flick of wing and tail that meant a good deal, but he expressed no
+opinion. With kingbirds on one side, pewees on the other, and the great
+crested fly-catcher a daily caller, this was eminently a fly-catcher
+grove, and the robin plainly felt that he was not responsible for its
+good order. Indeed, after fly-catcher households were set up, he had his
+hands full to maintain his right to be there at all.
+
+Whatever went on, the woodpeckers took no part in it. Back and forth
+they passed, almost stealthily, caring not who ruled the grove so that
+their precious secret was not discovered. Neither of them stayed to
+watch the nest, nor did they come and go together. The birds in the
+neighborhood might be inquisitive,--there was no one to resent it;
+blackbirds scrambled over the oak, robins perched on the screening
+branch, and no one about the silent entrance disputed their right.
+
+In the first flush of dismay at finding themselves watched, the
+golden-wings, as I said, redoubled their cautiousness. They tried to
+keep the position of the nest secret by coming from the back, gliding
+around on the trunk, and stealing in at the door, or by alighting
+quietly high up in the body of the tree, and coming down backward,--that
+is, tail first. But by remaining absolutely without motion or sound
+while they were present, I gradually won their toleration, and had my
+reward. The birds ceased to regard me as an enemy, and, though they
+always looked at me, no longer tried to keep out of sight, or to hide
+the object of their visits. During the first day of watching I had the
+good fortune to see a second empty shell brought out of the nest, and
+dropped a little farther off than the first had been; and I feel safe in
+assuming that these two were the birthdays of the babes in the wood.
+
+Thirteen days were devoted to the study of the manners and customs of
+the parents before the hidden subjects of their solicitude gave any
+signs of life visible from below. Though visits were about half an hour
+apart, and flicker babies have very good appetites, they did not go
+hungry, for on every occasion they had a hearty meal instead of the
+single mouthful that many young birds receive. This fact was guessed at
+on the thirteenth day, when the concealed little ones came out of the
+darkness up to the door, and the parents' movements in feeding could be
+seen; but the whole curious process was plain two days later, when a
+young golden-wing appeared at the opening and met his supplies half-way.
+The food-bearer clung to the bark beside the entrance, leaned over,
+turned his head on one side, and thrust his beak within the slightly
+opened beak of his offspring. In this position he gave eight or ten
+quick little jerks of his head, which doubtless represented so many
+mouthfuls; then, drawing back his head, he made a motion of the throat,
+as though swallowing, which was, presumably, raising instead, for he
+leaned over again and repeated the operation in the waiting mouth. This
+performance was gone through with as many as three or four times in
+succession before one flicker baby was satisfied. After the nestlings
+came up to the door, the parents went no more inside, as a rule, and
+housekeeping took care of itself.
+
+On the fifteenth day of his life, as said above, the eldest scion of the
+golden-wing family made his appearance at the portal of his home. The
+sight and the sound of him came together, for he burst out at once with
+a cry. It was not very loud, but it meant something, and the practice of
+a day or two gave it all the strength that was desirable. In fact, it
+became clamorous to a degree that made further attempts at concealment
+useless, and no one was quicker to recognize it than the parents. The
+baby cry was the utterance familiar from the grown-up birds as "wick-a!
+wick-a! wick-a!" From this day, when one of the elders drew near the
+tree, it was met at the opening by an eager little face and a begging
+call; but it was several days before the recluse showed interest in
+anything except the food supply. Meals were now nearly an hour apart,
+and the moment one was over the well-fed youngster in the tree fell back
+out of sight, probably to sleep, after the fashion of babies the world
+over. But all this soon came to an end. The young flicker began to
+linger a few minutes after he had been fed, and to thrust his beak out
+in a tentative way, as if wondering what the big out-of-doors was like,
+any way.
+
+Matters were going on thus prosperously, when a party of English
+sparrows, newly fledged, came to haunt the wood in a small flock of
+eighteen or twenty; to meddle, in sparrow style, with everybody's
+business; and to profane the sweet stillness of the place with harsh
+squawks. The mistress of the little home in the oak, who had conducted
+her domestic affairs so discreetly, one day found herself the centre of
+a mob; for these birds early learn the power of combination. She came to
+her nest followed by the impertinent sparrows, who flew as close as
+possible, none of them more than a foot from her. They alighted as near
+as they could find perches, crowded nearer, stretched up, flew over, and
+tried in every way, with an air of the deepest interest, to see what she
+_could_ be doing in that hole. When she left,--which she did soon, for
+she was annoyed,--the crowd did not go with her; they were bound to
+explore the mystery of that opening. They flew past it; they hovered
+before it; they craned their necks to peer in; they perched on a bare
+twig that grew over it, as many as could get footing, and leaned far
+over to see within. The young flicker retired before his inquisitive
+visitors, and was seen no more till the mother came again; and then she
+had to go in out of sight to find him.
+
+As the days went on, the babe in the wood became more used to the
+sunlight and the bird-sounds about him. Evidently, he was of a
+meditative turn, for he did not scramble out, and rudely rush upon his
+fate; he deliberated; he studied, with the air of a philosopher; he
+weighed the attractions of a cool and breezy world against the comforts
+and delightful obscurity of home. Perhaps, also, there entered into his
+calculations the annoyance of a reporter meeting him on the threshold of
+life, tearing the veil away from his private affairs. What would one
+give to know the thoughts in that little brown head, on its first look
+at life! Whatever the reason, he plainly concluded not to take the risk
+that day, for he disappeared again behind a door that no reporter,
+however glib or plausible, could pass. Sometimes he vanished with a
+suddenness that was not natural. Did his heart fail him, or, perchance,
+his footing give way? For whether he clung to the walls, or made
+stepping-stones of his brothers and sisters (as do many of his betters,
+or at least his biggers), who can tell? Often beside this eldest-born,
+after the first day, appeared a second little head, spying eagerly, if a
+little less bravely, on the world, and as days passed he frequently
+contested the position of vantage with his brother, but he was always
+second.
+
+Mother Nature is kind to woodpeckers. She fits them out for life before
+they leave the seclusion of the nursery. There is no callow, immature
+period in the face of the world, no "green" age for the gibes or
+superior airs of elders. A woodpecker out of the nest is a woodpecker in
+the dress and with the bearing of his fathers,--dignified, serene, and
+grown up.
+
+As the sweet June days advanced, the young bird in the oak-tree grew
+bolder. He no longer darted in when a saucy sparrow came near, and when
+the parent arrived with food the cries became so loud that all the world
+could know that here were young woodpeckers at dinner. Now, too, he
+began to spend much time in dressing his plumage, in preparation for the
+grand début. Usually, when a young bird begins to dally with the
+temptation to fly, so rapid is growth among birds, he may be expected
+out in a few hours. In this deliberate family it is different; indeed,
+taking flight must be a greater step for a woodpecker than for a bird
+from an open nest.
+
+Three days the youngster had been debating whether it were "to be or not
+to be," and more and more he lingered in the doorway, sitting far enough
+out to show his black necklace. His was no longer the wondering gaze of
+infancy, to which all things are equally strange; it was a
+discriminating look,--the head turned quickly, and passing objects drew
+his attention. On the third day, too, he uttered his first genuine
+woodpecker cry of "pe-auk!" He had not the least embarrassment before
+me. I think he regarded me as a part of the landscape,--the eccentric
+development of a tree trunk, perhaps; for while he never looked at me
+nor put the smallest restraint upon his infant passions, let another
+person come into the wood, and he was at once silent and on his guard.
+All this time he had become more and more fascinated with the view
+without his door; one could fairly see the love of the world grow upon
+him. He picked at the bark about him; he began to get ideas about ants,
+and ran out a long tongue and helped himself to many a tidbit.
+
+When the young golden-wing had passed four days in this manner, he grew
+impatient. The hour-long intervals between meals were not to his mind,
+and he began to express himself fluently. He leaned far out, and
+delivered the adult cry with great vigor and new pathos; he then bowed
+violently many times, moved his mouth as if eating, and struggled
+farther and still farther out, until it seemed that he could not keep
+within another minute. When one of the parents came he forgot his
+grown-up manner, and returned to the baby cry, loud and urgent, as if he
+were starved.
+
+He was fed, and again left; and now he scrambled up with his feet on
+the edge. He was silent; he was considering an important move, a plunge
+into the world. He wanted to come,--he longed to fly. Outside were
+sunshine, sweet air, trees, food,--inside only darkness. The smallest
+coaxing would bring him out; but coaxing he was not to have. He must
+decide for himself; the impulse must be from within.
+
+The next morning opened with a severe northeast gale.
+
+  "It rained, and the wind was never weary."
+
+The birds felt the depressing influence of the day. The robins perched
+on the fence, wings hanging, each feather like a bare stick, and not a
+sound escaping the throat; and when robins are discouraged, it is dismal
+weather indeed. The bluebirds came about, draggled almost beyond
+recognition. Even the swallows sailed over silently, their merry chatter
+hushed.
+
+But life must go on, whatever the weather; and fearing the young
+woodpecker might select this day to make his entry into the big world,
+his faithful watcher donned rainy-day costume, and went out to assist in
+the operation. The storm did not beat upon his side of the tree, and the
+youngster still hung out of his hole in the trunk, calling and crying,
+apparently without the least intention of exposing his brand-new
+feathers to the rain.
+
+Very early the following morning, before the human world was astir, loud
+golden-wing cries, and calls, and "laughs" were heard about the wood.
+This abandonment of restraint proclaimed that something had happened;
+and so, indeed, I discovered; for in hastening to my post I found an
+ominous silence about the oak-tree. The young wise-head, whose struggles
+and temptations I had watched so closely, had chosen to go in the
+magical morning hours, when the world belongs entirely to birds and
+beasts. The home in the wood looked deserted.
+
+I sat down in silence and waited, for I knew the young flicker could not
+long be still. Sure enough, I soon heard his cry, but how far off! I
+followed it to an oak-tree on the farther edge of the grove. I searched
+the tree, and there I saw him, quiet now as I approached, and plainly
+full of joy in his freedom and his wings.
+
+I returned to my place, hoping that all had not gone. There must be more
+than one, for two had been up to the door, I was sure. I waited. Some
+hours later, the parents came to their home in the wood, one after the
+other. Back one alighted beside the door, glanced in, in a casual way,
+but did not put the head in, and then flew to a neighboring tree,
+uttering what sounded marvelously like a chuckling laugh, and in a
+moment left the grove. Did, then, the daughters of the house meekly fly,
+without preliminary study of the world from the door? Were there,
+perchance, no daughters? Indeed, had more than one infant reached
+maturity? All these questions I asked myself, but not one shall I ever
+be able to answer.
+
+I waited several hours. Many birds sang and called among the trees, but
+no sound came from the oak-tree household, and to me the wood was
+deserted.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+HOME LIFE OF THE REDSTART.
+
+
+The redstart himself told me where his treasures were "hid in a leafy
+hollow." Not that he intended to be so confiding; on the contrary he was
+somewhat disconcerted when he saw what he had done, and tried his best
+to undo it by appearing not to have the smallest interest in that
+particular tree. I happened that morning to be wandering slowly along
+the edge of a tree-lined ravine, looking for the nest of a greatly
+disturbed pair of cat-birds. As I drew near an old moss-covered
+apple-tree, I heard a low though energetic "phit! phit!" and a chipping
+sparrow emerged from the tree with much haste, quickly followed by a
+redstart, with the unmistakable air of proprietor. The sight of me made
+a diversion. The pursued dropped into the grass, while the pursuer
+turned his attention to the bigger game, presented so unexpectedly that
+he had not time to bethink himself of his usual custom of not showing
+his gorgeous black and gold about home. He scolded me well for an
+instant, till his wits returned, when he disappeared like a flash. It
+was too late to deceive me, however, and I marked that tree as I passed,
+intent at the moment upon cat-birds.
+
+On returning, I stopped on the bank to look the tree over at my leisure,
+and there I soon saw, two feet from the top of the tallest upright
+branch and tightly clinging to it, a small cradle, gently rocking in the
+warm breeze. No one was at home, and I sat down to wait. This movement
+did not meet the approval of a certain small tenant of a neighboring
+tree, for I was saluted by a sharp, low, incessant cry; now it came from
+the right side, now from the left. I turned quickly, caught a glimpse of
+yellow, the flit of a wing, and then--nothing. In a moment the sound
+began again, and thus it tantalized me till my neck became tired, and I
+laid my head back among the ferns, to wait till the small fire-brand
+calmed down a little. To my surprise and delight, the bird seemed to
+regard this as a surrender, for down a broad branch that sloped toward
+me came a most animated bundle of feathers, wings and tail wide spread,
+making hostile demonstrations, and scolding as fiercely as such an atom
+could. It had all the airs of ownership, and its colors were olive and
+yellow; had, then, the roguish redstart deceived me, after all? Thus
+pondering, I suddenly remembered that I had never seen his spouse, and
+that monsieur and madame do not dress alike in the bird world any more
+than in the human. I marked the points; I consulted the books; there
+could be no doubt this was the little dame herself, and her mate had
+been too clever to come to her aid.
+
+The structure on the apple bough was the redstart homestead. Watch it
+every day I must, yet not to disturb the fiery little owners it was
+necessary to move further from them. I sought and found a delightful
+nook, the other side of the ravine. On its steep sides the native forest
+still flourished, and seated at the foot of a tall maple, tented in by a
+heavy low growth at my back, I could look across the narrow chasm
+through a gap in the trees, and see the redstart nest in the pasture
+beyond. The restless pair did not notice me behind my veil of greenery,
+and my glass was of the best; so I secured a good view of the small
+mansion and the life that went on about it, without in the least
+annoying the builders thereof. I found the head of the family very
+interesting in his rôle of husband and father.
+
+Perhaps not every one knows a redstart, and his name is misleading, for
+he has not a red feather on his body. He is a bird of very few inches,
+clothed in brilliant array of orange and black and white, which always
+suggests the Baltimore oriole. His mate is more soberly clad in
+olive-brown and golden-yellow; neither of them is still for an instant,
+diving and flitting about on a tree like specks of animated sunlight.
+
+At my pleasant post of observation I spent hours of every day, stealing
+in soon after breakfast, quietly, so as not to arouse the suspicions of
+a robin who lived in the neighborhood; for unfortunate is the student
+whose ways are not acceptable to one of this noisy family. I found,
+however, when my patience gave out, that the robin will take a hint. On
+throwing a pebble through the branches near him, as a suggestion that
+his attentions were not welcome, he flew to a tree a little farther off,
+and resumed his offensive remarks; another pebble convinced him that the
+distance might be profitably increased, and thus I drove him away; at
+about the fourth pebble he took a final departure.
+
+Here, then, I saw the small housekeeping go on. I always found the
+little dame in possession, and generally the lord and master gleaning
+food in redstart fashion; flitting around a branch, darting behind a
+leaf, over and under a twig, tail spread to keep his balance during
+these jerky movements, his bright oriole colors flashing as he dashed
+through a patch of sunlight,--a beautiful object, but a perfectly silent
+one. When his happiness demanded expression he flew to a maple-tree,
+and poured out his soul in the quaint though not very musical ditty of
+his race. Sometimes he stood still on a branch, like a bird who has
+something to say; but more often he rushed around after insects on this
+tree, and threw in the notes between the firm snaps of his beak.
+
+Promptly every half hour the little sprite took his way to that precious
+apple branch, and dropped, light as a snow-flake, on a certain twig on
+the nearest side of his homestead. A flash from the nest announced the
+departure of madame, and he popped into her place. Not to settle down to
+business, as she did,--far from it! It is a wonder to me how even a
+female redstart can sit still. On taking his place, he first examined
+the treasures it held, leaning over the edge with a solicitude charming
+to see; and when he did at last cover them from sight, his black velvet
+cap still bobbed up and down, this way and that, as though he were
+taking advantage of his enforced quiet to plume himself. Precisely three
+minutes he allowed his modest spouse for her repast. At the expiration
+of that time he deserted, darted away, and began to call from the next
+tree, when she instantly returned. Sometimes she was at hand, and
+alighted on a twig on the farther side of the nest, when he bounded off
+and out of sight. She carefully inspected the nest to see that all was
+right, then slipped in, settled herself with a gentle flutter of wings,
+and I knew she was safe for another half hour. It was the closest
+watching I ever tried, so quick were the motions, so silent the going
+and coming.
+
+Now and then the redstart chose to stay longer at home. The usual time
+having expired, the little sitter appeared, but if her mate did not
+vacate, she availed herself of the additional liberty in flitting about
+the tree, adding a dessert to her dinner. On one occasion he let her
+return twice before he left, occupying her place for eight minutes,--an
+enormous length of time for a redstart. More often he grew impatient in
+less than three minutes, and once he forgot himself so far as to call
+while in the nest.
+
+During the sitting there came two days of steady, pouring rain and high
+wind. I feared the hopes of that family, as well as others all about,
+would perish, but the brave little mother bore the depressing season
+well. The eggs were never left uncovered, nor did that gay rover, her
+spouse, forget to take her place as usual.
+
+On the morning of my fourth day of watching, I saw there was news;
+sitting was over, and though they could not be seen, it was easy to
+picture the featherless, wide-mouthed objects, evidently so lovely to
+the young parents. Close work as it had been to observe the movements
+of the pair, it was much harder after that, they became at once so wary.
+I am sure they never regarded me in any way as a spy, for I was not in
+their highway; moreover, they would certainly have expressed their mind
+if they had. Yet they came and went entirely from the other side, and so
+exactly opposite the nest that often I could not see even the flit of a
+wing. Not until one stood on the threshold could I see it, and the most
+untiring vigilance was necessary. Even before this madame was cautious
+in her going and coming; she first dropped about two feet to a branch,
+paused a moment, then went to a second one, still lower, thus left the
+tree near the ground, and in returning she began at the lowest branch
+and retraced her steps to the nest.
+
+That day the father of the new family seemed very joyous, and treated us
+to a great deal of singing, though it was not a singing-day, being very
+cold, with a steady rain. The pretty little mother took thoughtful care
+of her brood. For a half hour or more she worked very busily, her mate
+helping, and fed them well; then she deliberately sat down upon those
+youngsters, exactly as though they were still eggs. There she stayed as
+long as she thought best, and then she went to her work again.
+
+The morning they were six days old I had the pleasure of seeing a
+movement in the nest. When the sun reached a certain height above the
+tree, it shone into that small mansion in such a way as to reveal its
+contents; thus I could see the redstart babies moving restlessly,
+evidently in haste already to come out into the world. This day the
+father took rather more than half the charge of the provision supply,
+and with considerable regularity. During four hours that the nest was
+closely watched, its tenants were fed at about five-minute intervals for
+half an hour; and then mamma promptly smothered their ambition, as above
+mentioned, for perhaps a quarter of an hour, when, if they did not take
+naps like "good little birdies," they at least were forced to keep
+still.
+
+This young matron reminded me of some mothers of a larger growth, she
+was so fussy, so careful that her charges did not go too fast for their
+strength, while her spouse made it his business to see that she did not
+keep them tender by over-coddling. He allowed her to brood them for
+fifteen minutes; longer than that he would not tolerate, but came like a
+fiery meteor to see that she moved. She plainly understood his
+intention, for the instant he appeared she darted off, although he did
+not touch the nest. All day the weight of responsibility kept this rover
+at home; he might generally be seen on the lower branches of his tree,
+darting about in perfect silence; but once or twice I saw him actually
+loitering, a pleasant pastime of which I never suspected a redstart.
+
+Six days appears to be the limit of time a redstart baby can submit to a
+cradle. (I know this does not agree with the books, so I explain that it
+was six days from the time constant sitting ceased. If the young were
+out of the shell before that, they were covered all the time, and not
+fed.) The day that stirring urchin was six days old he mounted the edge
+of the nest and tried his wings. When mamma came, he asked for food in
+the usual bird-baby way, gentle flutters of the wings; but this haste
+was certainly not pleasing to the little dame, and upon her departure I
+noticed that he had returned to the nursery.
+
+However, his ambition was roused,--the ambition of a redstart to be
+moving,--and at seven o'clock the next morning, his seventh day, he came
+out with his mind made up to stay. First a shaky little yellowish head
+appeared above the nest; then the owner thereof clambered out upon a
+twig, three inches higher. One minute he rested, to glance around the
+new world, and quickly increased the distance to six inches, where he
+stood fidgeting, arranging his feathers, and evidently preparing for a
+tremendous flight, when his anxious parent returned. Plainly, he would
+have been wiser to wait another day, for all the time it was difficult
+for him to keep his place; every few seconds he made wild struggles,
+beating the air with his wings, and at last, after enjoying that
+elevated position in life about ten minutes, he lost his hold and fell.
+I held my breath, for a fall to the ground meant a dead nestling; but he
+clutched at a twig two or three feet lower, and succeeded in retaining
+this more humble station. Madame came and fed and comforted him, and it
+was soon evident that he had learned a lesson, for he moderated his
+transports; though his head was as restless as ever, his feet were more
+steady; he did not fall again, and he soon scrambled freely all over the
+tree.
+
+Now I was interested to see how the redstart babies were brought up, and
+for more than four hours I kept my eyes on that youngster. It is no
+small task, let me say, to keep watch of an atom an inch or two long, to
+whom any leaf is ample screen, to note every movement lest he slip out
+of sight, and to make memorandum of each morsel of food he gets. There
+were, also, of course, the most seductive sounds about me; never so many
+birds came near. Cat-birds whispered softly behind my back; a vireo
+cried plaintively over my head; the towhee bunting boldly perched on a
+low bush, and saluted me with his peculiar cry; flickers uttered their
+quaint "wick-up" on my right, and a veery sighed softly "we-o" on my
+left. Unflinchingly, however, I kept my face toward that apple-tree, and
+my eyes on that restless young hopeful, while I noted the conduct of the
+parents toward him.
+
+This is what I learned: first, that those left in the nest were to be
+kept back, and not allowed out of the nursery till this one was able to
+care for himself, or at least to help. The nest, holding probably one or
+two little ones, was visited, the first hour almost exactly once in
+twenty minutes, by madame exclusively, and the three succeeding hours at
+longer intervals, by her spouse. Scarcely a move was made there; plainly
+there were no more "come-outers" that day. The efforts of the mother
+were concentrated on number one, apparently, to bring him forward as
+fast as possible. He was, for an hour, fed every five or six minutes,
+the next hour only three times, and this system was kept up with perfect
+regularity all day.
+
+Meanwhile, the behavior of the happy father was peculiar and somewhat
+puzzling, considering how solicitous he had hitherto appeared. For some
+time his gay coat was not to be seen, even on his favorite lower
+branches; and when he did come around, his mate flew at him, whether to
+praise or to punish could only be guessed, for he at once disappeared
+before her. After two or three episodes of this sort he remained about
+the tree, and occasionally contributed a mite to the family sustenance.
+
+The next morning, at half past seven, I resumed my seat as usual, and
+very soon saw I was too late. Both parents were busily flitting about
+the tree, but never once went near the old home; moreover, when the sun
+reached the magical point where he revealed the inside of the nest, lo,
+it was empty!
+
+Either there had been but one other bairn, and he had got out before I
+did,--things happen so rapidly in the redstart family,--or there had
+been a tragedy, I could not discover which. Neither could I find a young
+bird on that tree, though I was sure, by the conduct of the parents,
+that at least one remained.
+
+Now that no one's feelings could be hurt by the operation, I had a limb
+cut off the apple-tree, and the little home I had watched with so great
+interest brought down to me. Nothing could be daintier or more secure
+than that snug little structure. Placed on an upright branch, just below
+the point where five branchlets, a foot or more long, sprang out to
+shelter, and closely surrounded by seven twigs, of few inches but many
+leaves, it was a marvel I had been able to see it at all. The redstarts
+might be lively and restless, but they were good workers. So firmly was
+that nest fastened to its branch, resting on one-twig and embraced by
+two others, like arms, that to remove it would destroy it. Strips of
+something like grapevine bark, with a few grass-blades and a material
+that looked like hornets' or other insects' nest, formed the outside,
+while long horsehairs made the soft lining. Though strong and firm, it
+was on the sides so thin, that, as mentioned above, the movements of the
+young could be seen through it.
+
+This pretty cup, around which so many hopes had centred, was of a size
+for a fairy's homestead,--hardly two inches inside diameter, and less
+than two inches deep. I carried it off as a memento of a delightful June
+among the hills of the old Bay State.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+WHEN NESTING IS OVER.
+
+
+  "When the birds fly past
+  And the chimes ring fast
+  And the long spring shadows sweet shadow cast,"
+
+comes the most attractive time of year to the bird-lover,--the
+baby-days, when the labors and anxieties of the nest being over, proud
+and happy parents bring forward their tender younglings all unused to
+the ways of the world, and carry on their training before our eyes.
+
+First to come upon the scene of the summer's studies was the brown
+thrush family. For some time the head of the household had made the
+grove a regular resting place in his daily round. He always entered in
+silence, alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, and hopped lightly, step
+by step, to the top, where he sang softly a few delightful and
+tantalizing strains. In a moment he dropped to the ground, uttering a
+liquid note or two as he went, and threw into his work of digging among
+the dead leaves the same suppressed vehemence he had put into his song.
+Not unfrequently he came into collision with a sparrow mob that claimed
+to own that piece of wood, and his way of dealing with them was an ever
+fresh satisfaction. He stood quiet, though the crouching attitude and
+the significant twitches of his expressive tail indicated very clearly
+to one who knew him that he was far from calm inside; that he was merely
+biding his time. His tranquil manner misled the vulgar foe; that they
+mistook it for cowardice was obvious. Nearer, and still nearer, they
+drew, surrounded him, and seemed about to fall upon him in a body, when
+he suddenly wheeled, and like a flash of light dashed right and left
+almost simultaneously, as if he had become two birds, and the
+impertinent enemy fairly vanished before him.
+
+Like many another bird, however, the thrasher, although not afraid of
+sparrows, disliked a continual row. He had gradually ceased to come into
+the neighborhood, and I feared I should neither see nor (what was worse)
+hear him again. But one morning he presented himself with two
+youngsters, so brimful of joy that he quite forgot his previous caution
+and reserve. They perched in plain sight on the fence, and while the
+little ones clumsily struggled to maintain their footing, the father
+turned his head this side and that, jerked his tail, and uttered a low
+cry as touch as to say, "Can anybody beat that pair now?"
+
+In a moment he fell to the serious work of filling their hungry mouths.
+Being very wide awake, the young birds readily saw where supplies came
+from, and then they accompanied their parent to the ground, following
+every step, as he dug almost without ceasing. After a tolerably solid
+repast of large white grubs, he slipped away from the dear coaxers,
+disappeared on the other side of the fence, and before they recovered
+from their bewilderment at finding themselves deserted, returned bearing
+in his beak a strawberry. The young thrush received the dainty eagerly,
+but finding it too big to swallow, beat it on the fence as if it were a
+worm. Of course it parted, and a piece fell to the ground, which the
+waiting parent went after, and administered as a second mouthful.
+
+For a long time the little ones were fed on the fence, and the father
+was so happy that every few minutes he was forced to retire behind a
+neighboring tree and "make gladness musical upon the other side."
+
+After that morning the thrasher came daily to the place, and a dessert
+of strawberries invariably followed the more substantial meal, but never
+again did he bring more than one of his family with him.
+
+One morning the brown thrush baby, who had been rapidly growing
+self-reliant, came alone for the first time. It was interesting to watch
+him, running along the tops of the pickets; searching in the hot grass
+till out of breath for something to eat; looking around in a surprised
+way, as if wondering why the food did not come; making a dash, with
+childlike innocence, after a strawberry he saw in the mouth of a robin,
+who in amazement leaped a foot in the air; and at last flying to a tree
+to call and listen for his sire. That wise personage, meanwhile, had
+stolen silently into the grove, all dripping from his bath in the bay,
+and while indulging in a most elaborate dressing and pluming, had kept
+one eye on the infant in the grass below, apparently to see how he got
+on by himself. When at last the little one stood panting and
+discouraged, he called, a single "chirp." The relieved youngster
+recognized it and answered, and at once flew over to join him.
+
+This restless young thrasher, excepting that he was perhaps somewhat
+lighter in color and a little less glossy of coat, looked at that moment
+as old as he ever would. Nothing but his ingenuous ways, and his soft
+baby-cry "chr-er-er" revealed his tender age. His curiosity when he
+found himself in an unfamiliar place or on a strange tree was amusing.
+He looked up and down, stretching his neck in his desire to see
+everything; he critically examined the tuft of leaves near him; he
+peered over and under a neighboring branch, and then gazed gravely
+around on the prospect before him. He flew with ease, and alighted with
+the grace of his family, on the bare trunk of a tree, the straight side
+of a picket, or any other unlikely place for a bird to be found. For a
+week he came and went and was watched and studied, but one day the
+strawberries were gathered in the old garden, and the beautiful brown
+thrush baby appeared no more.
+
+The world was not deserted of bird voices, however.
+
+  "Swift bright wings flitted in and out
+  And happy chirpings were all about."
+
+For days the wood had resounded with the shrill little cries of swallow
+babies, who alighted on the low trees on the border while their busy
+parents skimmed over the bay, or the marshy shore, and every few minutes
+brought food to their clamorous offspring. I had a remarkably good
+opportunity to make the acquaintance of this youngster--the
+white-bellied swallow. There were dozens of them, and the half grown
+trees were their chosen perches. The droll little fellows, with white
+fluffy breasts, no feet to speak of, and
+
+      "Built so narrow
+  Like the head of an arrow
+  To cut the air,"
+
+did not even notice me in my nook under the pines.
+
+They could fly very well, and now and then one followed the parent far
+out, calling sharply his baby "cheep" and trying to get close to her in
+the air. Often she turned, met and fed him on the wing, and then sailed
+on, while the youngster lagged a little, unable to give his mind to
+feeding and flying at the same time. Sometimes the mother avoided a too
+persistent pleader by suddenly rising above him. When a little one was
+at rest, she usually paused before him on wing only long enough to poke
+a mouthful into his wide open beak; occasionally--but not often--she
+alighted beside him for a few moments.
+
+Leading out into the water for the use of boatmen, was a narrow foot
+pier, provided on one side with a hand rail. This rail was a convenient
+rendezvous for all the babies belonging to the swallow flock, a sort of
+a community nursery. On this they rested from the fatigue of flying;
+here they were fed, and sometimes gently pushed off the perch afterward,
+as a mild hint to use their wings.
+
+I wanted to find out whether parents and young knew each other from all
+the rest. Of course in this crowd it was not possible to tell, but I
+found a better chance in another favorite spot, an old post that rose
+out of the water, eight or ten feet from the shore, and so small that it
+was only comfortable for one, although two could stand on it. The post
+seldom lacked its occupant, a baby swallow with head up, looking eagerly
+into the flock above him. This isolated youngling I made my special
+study. Sometimes on the approach of a grown up bird, he lifted his wings
+and opened his mouth, petitioning for, and plainly expecting food. At
+other times he paid not the least attention to a swallow passing over
+him, but sat composed and silent, though watchful, apparently for the
+right one to come in sight. He was often, though not invariably, fed
+upon his appeal; but that proves nothing, for it would require the
+services of a dozen parents to respond to every request of a young bird.
+It not unfrequently happened, too, that one of the flock always flying
+about over the water came very near the little one on the post as if to
+offer him a morsel, but suddenly, when almost upon him, wheeled and
+left,--obviously mistaken. On no such occasion did that knowing
+youngster show any expectation of attention. Again there would sometimes
+join him on the post, a second young swallow, and, although crowded,
+they were quite contented together. Then I noticed as the elders swept
+over, that sometimes one baby begged, sometimes the other; never both at
+once. This seemed to indicate that the little one knows its parents, for
+no one familiar with the craving hunger and the constant opening of the
+baby beak to its natural purveyors, will doubt that when a young bird
+failed to ask, it was because the elder was not its parent.
+
+An early lesson in many bird lives is that of following, or flying in a
+flock, for at first the babies of a brood scatter wildly, and seem not
+to have the smallest notion of keeping together. The small swallows in
+the trees near me were carefully trained in this. Often while one stood
+chirping vehemently, clearly thinking himself half starved, a grown-up
+bird flew close past him, calling in very sweet tones, and stopped in
+plain sight, ten or fifteen feet away. Of course the youngster followed
+at once. But just as he reached the side of the parent, that thoughtful
+tutor took another short flight, calling and coaxing as before. This
+little performance was repeated three or four times before the pupil
+received the tidbits he so urgently desired.
+
+Other sweet baby-talk in the trees came from the wood-pewee. The pewee I
+had noted from the building of her beautiful lichen-covered cradle in
+the crotch of a wild-cherry tree. The branch, dead and leafless,
+afforded no screen for the brave little mother. Look when one might, in
+the hottest sunshine or the heaviest rain, there sat the bird quite up
+out of the nest, head erect and eyes eagerly watching for intruders. The
+pewee, for all his tender and melancholy utterances, has a fiery spirit.
+He hesitates not to clinch with a brother pewee, interpolates his
+sweetest call into the hot chases, and even when resting between
+encounters, spreads his tail, flutters his wings, and erects his crest
+in a most warlike manner. The little dame was not a whit less vigilant
+than her spouse. Let but a blackbird pass over and she was off in a
+twinkling, pursuing him, pouncing down upon him savagely, and all the
+time uttering her plaintive "pe-o-wee!" till her mate joined her, and
+made it so uncomfortable for the big foe that he departed, protesting to
+be sure in vigorous black-birdese, but taking good care to go. So
+persistent were the pewees in these efforts, that in a few days they
+convinced a pair of blackbirds (purple crow blackbirds) that this part
+of the grove was no longer a thoroughfare, and whereas they had been
+quite frequent visitors, they were now rarely seen.
+
+The saucy robin who chose to insist upon his right to alight on their
+tree, as he had always done, was harder to convince; in fact, he never
+was driven away. Every day, and many times a day, arose the doleful cry
+of distress. I always looked over from my seat on the other side of the
+little open spot in the wood, and invariably saw a robin on the lower
+part of the wild-cherry where the trunk divided, flirting his tail,
+jerking his wings, and looking very wicked indeed. Down upon him came
+one, sometimes two pewees. He simply ran up the sloping branch toward
+their nest, hopped to another limb, every step bringing him nearer, the
+pewees darting frantically at him--and at last took flight from the
+other side; but not until he was quite ready. This drama was enacted
+with clock-like regularity, neither party seeming to tire of its
+repetition, till the happy day when the pewee baby could fly, and
+appeared across the grove, near me.
+
+One morning I noticed the anxious parents very busy on a small oak-tree,
+but a clump of leaves made a perfect hiding place for the infant, and I
+could not see it at first. There may have been more, although I saw but
+one and heard but one baby cry, a prolonged but very low sound of pewee
+quality. While their charge lingered so near me, I was treated to
+another sensation by one of the pair,--a pewee song. The performer
+alighted almost directly over my head, and began at once to sing in a
+very sweet voice, but so low it could not be heard a dozen feet away.
+There was little variation in the tones, but it was rapidly delivered,
+with longer and shorter intervals and varying inflections, a genuine
+whisper-song such as most birds that I have studied delight in. It did
+not please madam, his mate; she listened, looked, and then rushed at the
+singer, and I regret to say, they fell into a "scrimmage" in the grass,
+quite after the vulgar manner of the sparrow.
+
+They soon returned to their duty of feeding the baby behind the oak leaf
+screen. Both came very nearly at the same time; each one on arriving,
+administered a significant "poke" behind the leaf, then indulged in
+several eccentric movements in their jerky style, dashed after a fly,
+stood a full minute staring at me, and at last flew. This programme was
+scarcely varied. Inoffensive as I was, however, the birds plainly did
+not relish my spying upon them, and when I returned from luncheon, they
+had removed their infant. For a day or two, I heard on the farther side
+of the grove the sweet, mournful "pe-o-wee" with which this bird
+proclaims the passage of another insect to its fate, and then it was
+gone, and I saw and heard them no more.
+
+One morning I rose at dawn and seated myself behind my blind to spy upon
+the doings of the early risers. On this particular morning I first
+heard the tender notes of "the darling of children and bards"--the
+bluebird baby. The cry was almost constant; it was urgent and clamorous
+beyond anything I ever heard from "April's bird." I even doubted the
+author till I saw him. The thin and worn looking mother who had him in
+charge worked without ceasing, while the open-mouthed infant lifted up
+his voice and wept in a way so petulant and persistent as to completely
+disguise its sweet bluebird quality. Now this charming youngster,
+bearing heaven's color on his wings, with speckled bib and
+shoulder-cape, and honest, innocent eyes, is a special favorite with me;
+I never before saw a cry-baby in the family, and I did not lose sight of
+him. Three or four days passed in which the pair frequently came about,
+but without the father or any other young ones. Had there been an
+accident and were these the survivors? Was the troublesome brawler a
+spoiled "only child"? All questions were settled by the appearance
+somewhat later of three other young bluebirds who were not cry-babies.
+The father had evidently shaken off the trammels of domestic life, and
+"gone for his holiday" into the grove, where his encounters with the
+pewees kept up a little excitement for him.
+
+When the pitiful looking little dame had succeeded in shaking off her
+ne'er-do-well, the four little ones came every day on the lawn
+together. Sometimes the mother came near to see how they prospered, but
+oftener they were alone. They cried no more; they ran about in the
+grass, and if one happened upon a fat morsel, the three others crowded
+around him and asked in pretty baby fashion for a share. Often they went
+to the fence, or the lower bar of the grape trellis, and there stood
+pertly erect, with head leaning a little forward, as though pondering
+some of the serious problems of bluebird life, but in fact concerning
+themselves only with the movements in the grass, as now and then a
+sudden plunge proved. Sometimes one of the group appeared alone on the
+ground, when no person was about (except behind the blinds), and then he
+talked with himself for company, a very charming monologue in the
+inimitable bluebird tone, with modifications suggesting that a new and
+wonderful song was possible to him. He was evidently too full of joy to
+keep still.
+
+The English sparrow, who had usurped the martin house in the yard,
+warned him off; the tiny golden warbler, who flitted about the shrubbery
+all day, threatened to annihilate him, but with infantile innocence he
+refused to understand hostility; he stared at his assailant, and he held
+his ground. The little flock of four was captivating to see, and though
+the mother looked ragged and careless in dress, one could but honor the
+little creature who had made the world so delightful a gift as four
+beautiful new bluebirds, in whose calm eyes
+
+  "Shines the peace of all being without cloud."
+
+Other young birds were plentiful in those warm July days. From morning
+till night the chipping sparrow baby, with fine streaked breast, uttered
+his shrill cricket-like trill. No doubt he had already found out that he
+would get nothing in this world without asking, so, in order that
+nothing escape him, his demand was constant. The first broods of English
+sparrows had long before united in a mob, and established themselves in
+the grove, and the nests were a second time full of gaping infants
+calling ever for more. The energies of even this unattractive bird were
+so severely taxed that he spared us his comments on things in general,
+and our affairs in particular. In the wood, young high-holes thrust
+their heads out of the door and called; blackbird and martin babies flew
+over with their parents, talking eagerly all the way; barn swallow
+nestlings crowded up to the window-sill to look out and be fed by
+passing mothers; and cautious young kingbirds, in black caps, dressed
+their feathers on the edge of the nest.
+
+But days hurried on; before long, young birds were as big as their
+fathers and had joined the ranks of the grown-ups. There were no more
+babies left on tree or lawn, and holiday time was over.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+IN SEARCH OF THE BLUEJAY.
+
+
+"The grass grows up to the front door, and the forest comes down to the
+back; it's the end of the road, and the woods are full of bluejays."
+
+Such was the siren song that lured me to a certain nook on the side of
+the highest mountain in Massachusetts one June. The country was
+gloriously green and fresh and young, as if it had just been created.
+From my window I looked down the valley beginning between Greylock and
+Ragged Mountain, and winding around other and (to me) nameless hills
+till lost in the distance, apparently cut square off by what looked like
+an unbroken chain from east to west. The heavy forests which covered the
+hills ended in steep grass-covered slopes, with dashing and hurrying
+mountain brooks between, and, save the road, scarcely a trace of man was
+seen.
+
+The birds were already there. The robin came on to the rail fence, and
+with rain pouring off his sleek coat, bade us "Be cheery! be cheery!"
+the bluebird sat silent and motionless on a fence post; the "veery's
+clarion" rang out all the evening from the valley below; many little
+birds sang and called; and
+
+  "The gossip of swallows filled all the sky."
+
+But the bluejays?
+
+The bluejays, too, were there. One saucily flirted his tail at me from
+the top of a tree; another sly rogue flaunted his blue robes over a wall
+and disappeared the other side; a third shrieked in my face and slipped
+away behind a tree; but one and all were far too wise to reveal their
+domestic secrets. I knew mysteries were on foot among them, as we know
+little folk are in mischief by their unnatural stillness, but I knew
+also that not until every jay baby was out of the nest, and there was
+nothing to hide, should I see that cunning bird in his usual noisy,
+careless rôle.
+
+The peculiarity of that particular corner of nature's handiwork was that
+any way you went you had to climb, except east, where you might roll if
+you chose; in fact, you could hardly do otherwise. The first day of my
+hunt I started west. I climbed a hill devoted to pasture, passed through
+the bars, and faced my mountain. It presented a compact front of
+spruce-trees closely interlaced at the ground, and of course impassable.
+But a way opened in the midst, the path of a mountain brook, deserted
+now and dry. I sought an alpenstock. I abandoned all impedimenta. I
+started up that stony path escorted on each side by a close rank of
+spruce. It was exceedingly steep, for the way of a brook on this
+mountain-side is a constant succession of falls. I scrambled over rocks;
+I stumbled on rolling stones; I "caught" on twigs and dead branches; I
+crept under fallen tree trunks; the way grew darker and more winding.
+How merrily had the water rushed down this path, so hard to go up! How
+easy for it to do so again! Nothing seemed so natural. I began to look
+and listen for it.
+
+A mysterious reluctance to penetrating the heart of the mountain by this
+unknown and strangely hewn path stole over me. I felt like an intruder.
+Who could tell what the next turn might reveal? On a fallen trunk that
+barred my way I seated myself to rest. The silence was oppressive; not a
+bird called, not a squirrel chattered, not an insect hummed. The whole
+forest was one vast, deep, overwhelming solitude. I felt my slightest
+rustle an impertinence; I could not utter a sound; surely the spirit of
+the wood was near! A strange excitement, almost amounting to terror,
+possessed me. I turned and fled--that is to say, crept--down my steep
+and winding stair, back to the bars where I had taken leave of
+civilization (in the shape of one farmhouse).
+
+Here I paused, and again the legend of bluejays allured me. From the
+bars, turning sharply to one side, were the tracks of cows. The strange
+feeling of oppression vanished. Wherever the gentle beasts had passed, I
+could go, sure of finding sunny openings, grassy spots, and nothing
+uncanny. Meekly I followed in their footsteps; the solemn grandeur of
+the forest had so stirred me that even the footprint of a cow was
+companionable.
+
+This path led down through a pleasant fringe of beech and birch and
+maple trees to a beautiful brook, which was easily crossed on stones,
+then up the bank on the other side into an open pasture with scattering
+spruce and other trees. Now I began to look for my bluejays. I disturbed
+the peace of a robin, who scolded me roundly from the top spire of a
+spruce. I started out in hot haste a dainty bit of bird life--the black
+and yellow warbler. I listened to the delightsome song of the
+field-sparrow. I heard the far-off drumming of the partridge. I walked
+and climbed myself tired.
+
+Then I sat down to wait. I made a nosegay of blue violets and sweetbrier
+leaves; I regaled myself with wintergreens in memory of my childhood; I
+wrote up my note-book; but never a blue feather did I see.
+
+The next day, between showers, I tried the north, with a guide--a
+visiting Massachusetts ornithologist--to show me a partridge nest with
+the bird sitting. We followed the ups and downs of the road for a mile,
+passing a meadow full of bobolinks,
+
+  "Bubbling rapturously, madly,"
+
+climbed by a grass-grown wood road a mountain-side pasture, and reached
+the forest. Under a dead spruce sat my lady, in a snug bed among the
+fallen leaves. She was wet; her lovely mottled plumage was disarranged
+and draggled, but her head was drawn down into her feathers in patient
+endurance, the mother love triumphant over everything, even fear. We
+stood within six feet of the shy creature; we discussed her courage in
+the face of the human monsters we felt ourselves to be. Not a feather
+fluttered, not an eyelid quivered; truly it was the perfect love that
+casteth out fear.
+
+My guide went on up to the top of Greylock; I turned back to pursue my
+search.
+
+Eastward was my next trip, down toward the brook that made a valley
+between Greylock and Ragged Mountain. My path was under the edge of the
+woods that fringed a mountain stream. Not the smallest of the debt we
+owe the bonny brook is that it wears a deep gully, whose precipitous
+sides are clothed with a thick growth of waving trees--beech, white and
+black birches, maple, and chestnut--in refreshing and delightful
+confusion. The stream babbled and murmured at my side as I walked slowly
+down, peering in every bush for nests, and at last I parted the branches
+like a curtain and stepped within. It was a cool green solitude, a
+shrine, one of nature's most enchanting nooks, sacred to dreams and
+birds and--woodchucks, one of which sat straight up and looked solemnly
+at me out of his great brown eyes.
+
+I sat on the low-growing limb of a tree, and was rocked by the wind
+outside. I forgot my object. What did it matter that I should find my
+bluejay? Was it worth while to go on? Was anything worth while, indeed,
+except to dream and muse, lulled by the music of the "laughing water"?
+Ah! if one were a poet!
+
+Then the birds came. A cat-bird first, with witching low song, eying me
+closely with that calm, dark eye of his, the while he poured it out from
+a shrub,
+
+  "Like dripping water falling slow
+  Round mossy rooks, in music rare;"
+
+a vireo, repeating over and over his few notes in tireless warble; high
+up in the maple across the chasm, a sweet-voiced goldfinch singing his
+soul away outside; and lastly, a robin, who broke the charm by a
+peremptory demand to know my business in his private quarters. I rose
+to leave him in possession. In rising I disturbed another resident, a
+red squirrel, who ran out on a branch and delivered as vehement a piece
+of mind as I ever heard, stamping his little feet and jerking his bushy
+tail with every word, scolding all over, to the tip of his longest hair.
+
+I left them in their green paradise. I went to my room. I sat down in my
+rocker to consider.
+
+Then the winds got up. Through the "bellows pipe," as they suggestively
+call the head of the valley, there poured such a gale that the birds
+could hardly hold on to their perches. All day long it tossed the
+branches, tore off leaves, beat the birds, rattled the windows, and
+filled the blue cover to our green bowl of a valley with clouds, even
+half way down the sides of the mountains themselves. And at last they
+began to weep, and I spent my twilight by an open window, wrapped in a
+shawl, listening to the
+
+  "Unrivaled one, the hermit-thrush,
+  Solitary, singing in the west,"
+
+and looking out upon the hills, where I still hoped to find my bluejay.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+IN THE WOOD LOT.
+
+
+"There's blue jays a-plenty up in the wood lot," said the farmer's boy,
+hearing me lament my unsuccessful search for that wily bird. "There's
+one pair makes an awful fuss every time I passes."
+
+I immediately offered to accompany the youth on his next trip up the
+mountain, where he was engaged in dragging down to our level, sunshine
+and summer breezes, winter winds and pure mountain air, in the shape of
+the bodies of trees, whose noble heads were laid low by the axes last
+winter. One hundred and fifty cords of beauty, the slow work of
+unnumbered years, brought down to "what base uses"! the most beautiful
+of nature's productions degraded to the lowest service--to fry our bacon
+and bake our pies!
+
+The farmer did not look upon it exactly in that way; he called it
+"cord-wood," and his oxen dragged it down day by day. The point of view
+makes such a difference!
+
+The road that wound down through the valley, skirting its hills,
+bridging its brooks, and connecting the lonely homestead with the rest
+of the human world, had on one side a beautiful border of all sorts of
+greeneries, just as Nature, with her inimitable touch, had placed them.
+It was a home and a cover for small birds; it was a shade on a warm day;
+it was a delight to the eye at all times. Yet in the farmer's eye it was
+"shiftless" (the New Englander's bogy). The other side of the road he
+had "improved;" it gloried in what looked at a little distance like a
+single-file procession of glaring new posts, which on approaching were
+found to be the supports of one of man's neighborly devices--barbed
+wire. Rejoicing in this work of his hands on the left, he longed to turn
+his murderous weapons against the right side. He was labored with; he
+bided his time; but I knew in my heart that whoever went there next
+summer would find that picturesque road bristling with barbed wire on
+both sides. It will be as ugly as man can make it, but it will be "tidy"
+(New England's shibboleth), for no sweet green thing will grow up beside
+it. Nature doesn't take kindly to barbed wire.
+
+The old stone wall at that time was an irresistible invitation to the
+riotous luxuriance of vines. Elder-bushes, with their fine cream-colored
+blossoms, hung lovingly over it; blackberry bushes, lovely from their
+snowy flowering to their rich autumn foliage, flourished beside it; and
+a thousand and one exquisite, and to me nameless, green things hung upon
+it, and leaned against it, and nearly covered it up. And what a garden
+of delight nestled in each protected corner of an old-fashioned zigzag
+fence! Yet all these are under the ban--"shiftless."
+
+Thanks be to the gods who sowed this country so full of stones and
+trees, that the army of farmers who have worried the land haven't
+succeeded in turning it into the abomination of desolation they admire!
+
+And now, having relieved my mind, I'll go on with the bluejay hunt.
+
+The next morning it was, for a rarity, fine. I started up the wood road
+ahead of my guide, so that I might take my climb as easily as such a
+thing can be taken. Passing through the bare pasture, I entered the
+outlying clumps of spruce which form the advance-guard of the forests on
+Greylock, and here my leader overtook me, urging his fiery steeds, with
+their empty sled. Now horned beasts have had a certain terror for me
+ever since an exciting experience with them in my childhood. I stood
+respectfully on one side, prepared to fly should the "critters" (local)
+show malicious intent. On they came, looking at me sharply with wicked
+eyes. I made ready for a rush, when, lo! they turned from me, and
+dashed madly into a spruce-tree, nearly upsetting themselves, and
+threatening to run away. We were all afraid of each other.
+
+The mortified driver apologized for their behavior on the ground that
+"they ain't much used to seeing a lady up in the wood lot." I generously
+forgave them, and then meekly followed in their footsteps, up, up, up
+toward the clouds, till we reached the bluejay neighborhood. Here we
+parted. My escort passed on still higher, and I seated myself to see at
+last my bluejays.
+
+Dead silence around me. Not a leaf stirred; not a bird peeped. I began
+to make a noise myself--calls and imitations (feeble) of bird-notes to
+arouse their curiosity; a bluejay is a born investigator. No sign of
+heaven's color appeared except in the patches of sky between the leaves.
+
+Other wood dwellers came; a rose-breasted grosbeak, with lovely rosy
+shield, with much posturing and many sharp "clicks," essayed to find out
+what manner of irreverent intruder this might be. Later his modest
+gray-clad spouse joined him. They circled around to view the wonder on
+all sides. They exchanged dubious-sounding opinions. They were as little
+"used to seeing a lady" as the oxen. They slipped away, and in a moment
+I heard his rich song from afar.
+
+No one else paid the slightest attention to my coaxing, and I returned
+by easy stages to the spruces, where I had the misfortune to arouse the
+suspicion of a robin. Do you know what it is to be under robin
+surveillance? Let but one redbreast take it into his obstinate little
+head that you are a suspicious character, and he mounts the nearest
+tree--the very top twig, in plain sight--and begins his loud "Peep!
+peep! tut, tut, tut! Peep! peep! tut, tut, tut!"
+
+This is his tocsin of war, and soon his allies appear, and then
+
+  "From the north, from the east, from the south and the west,
+     Woodland, wheat field, corn field, clover,
+     Over and over, and over and over,
+     Five o'clock, ten o'clock, twelve, or seven,
+     Nothing but robin-calls heard under heaven."
+
+No matter what you do or what you don't do. One will perch on each side
+of you, and join the maddening chorus, driving every bird in the
+neighborhood either to join in the hue and cry (as do some of the
+sparrows), or to hide himself from the monster that has been discovered.
+
+I tried to tire them out by sitting absolutely motionless; but three,
+who evidently had business in the vicinity, for each held a mouthful of
+worms, guarded me to right and left and in front, and never ceased
+their offensive remarks long enough to stuff those worms into the mouths
+waiting for them.
+
+I was not able to convince them that I had no designs on robin
+households, and I had to own myself defeated again. Then and there I
+abandoned the search for the bluejay.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE BLUEJAY BABY.
+
+
+My time of triumph came, however, a little later. Birds may securely
+hide their nests, but they cannot always silence their nestlings. So
+soon as little folk find their voices, whether their dress be feathers,
+or furs, or French cambric, they are sure to make themselves heard and
+seen.
+
+One morning, two or three weeks after I had given up the bluejay search,
+and consoled myself with looking after baby cat-birds and thrushes, I
+started out as usual for a walk. I turned naturally into a favorite path
+beside a brook that danced down the mountain below the house. It was
+near the bottom of a deep gully, where I had come to grief in my search
+for a veery baby.
+
+As I passed slowly up, looking well to my steps, and listening for
+birds, I heard a note that aroused me at once,--the squawk of a bluejay.
+It came from the higher ground, and I looked about for a pathway up the
+steep bank on my right. At the most promising point I could select I
+started my climb. Unfortunately that very spot had been already chosen
+by a small rill, a mere trickle of water, to come down. It was not big
+enough to make itself a channel and keep to it, but it sprawled all over
+the land. Now it lingered in the cows' footprints and made a little
+round pool of each; then it loitered on a level bit of ground, and
+soaked it full; when it reached a comfortable bed between the roots of
+trees, it almost decided to stay and be a pond, and it dallied so long
+before it found a tiny opening and straggled out, that if it did not
+result in a pond, it did accomplish a treacherous quagmire. In fact that
+undecided, feeble-minded streamlet totally "demoralized" the whole
+hillside, and with its vagaries I had to contend at every step of my
+way.
+
+I reached the top, but I left deep footprints to be turned into pools of
+a new pattern, and as trophy I carried away some of the soil on my
+dress. Of my shoes I will not speak; shall we not have souls above
+shoe-leather?
+
+As soon as I recovered breath after my hasty scramble to dry ground, I
+started toward a thick-growing belt of spruce trees which came down from
+the mountain and ended in a point,--one tree in advance, like the leader
+of an army. Here I found the bird I was seeking, a much disturbed
+bluejay, who met me at the door--so to speak--with a defiant squawk, a
+warning to come no nearer.
+
+"Ah ha!" said I, exultingly, "are your little folk in there? Then I
+shall see them."
+
+I slowly advanced; she disputed my passage at every step, but nothing
+was to be seen till her anxiety got the better of her discretion and she
+herself gave me the precious secret; she suddenly slipped through the
+trees to the other side, and became perfectly silent.
+
+I could not follow her path through the tangle of trees, but I could go
+around, and I did. On a dead spruce wedged in among the living ones I
+saw the object of her solicitude; a lovely sight it was! Two young
+bluejays huddled close together on a twig. They were "humped up," with
+heads drawn down into their shoulders, and breast feathers fluffed out
+like snowy-white floss silk, completely covering their feet and the
+perch. No wonder that poor little mother was anxious, for a more
+beautiful pair I never saw, and to see them was to long to take them in
+one's hands.
+
+Silent and patient little fellows they appeared, looking at me with
+innocent eyes, but showing no fear. They were a good deal more concerned
+about something to eat, and when their mother came they reminded her by
+a low peep that they were still there. She gave them nothing; she was
+too anxious to get them out of my sight, and she disappeared behind a
+thick branch.
+
+In a moment I heard the cry of a bird I could not see. So also did the
+twins on the tree, and to them it meant somebody being fed; they lifted
+their little wings, spread out like fans their short beautiful tails,
+and by help of both, half hopped, half flew through the branches to the
+other side.
+
+I followed, by the roundabout way again, and then I saw another one.
+Three bonny bairns in blue were on that dead spruce tree; two close
+together as before, and the third--who seemed more lively--sitting
+alone. He lifted his crest a little, turned his head and looked squarely
+at me, but seeing nothing to alarm him--wise little jay!--did not move.
+Then again mamma came forward, and remonstrated and protested, but only
+by her one argument, a squawk.
+
+I quietly sat down and tried to make myself as much a part of the bank
+as possible, for I wanted the distracted dame in blue to go on with her
+household duties, and feed those babies. After a while she did calm down
+a little, though she kept one distrustful eye on me, and now and then
+came near and delivered a squawk at me, as if to assure me that she saw
+through my manoeuvres, and despised them.
+
+But I cared not at that moment for her opinion of me; she did not move
+my sympathies as do many birds, for she appeared insulted and angry, not
+in the least afraid. I wanted to see her feed, and at last I
+did--_almost_; she was to the last too sharp for me.
+
+She came with a mouthful of food. Each one of the three rose on his
+sturdy little legs, fluttered his wings, opened his beak and cried. It
+was a sort of whispered squawk, which shows that the bluejay is a wary
+bird even in the cradle. When they were all roused and eager, the mother
+used that morsel as a bait to coax them through the tree again. She did
+not give it to either of her petitioners, but she moved slowly from
+branch to branch, holding it before them, and as one bird they followed,
+led by their appetite, like bigger folk,--
+
+  "Three souls with but a single thought,
+  Three hearts that beat as one!"
+
+and as I had no desire to see them die of starvation, and leave the
+world so much poorer in beauty, I came away and left them to their
+repast.
+
+That was not the end of the bluejay episode. A few days later a young
+bird, perhaps one of this very trio, set out by himself in search of
+adventures. Into the wide-open door of the barn he flew, probably to see
+for what the swallows were flying out and in. Alas for that curious
+young bird! He was noticed by the farmer's boy, chased into a corner,
+still out of breath from his first flight, then caught, thrust into an
+old canary cage, brought to the house, and given to the bird-student.
+
+Poor little creature! he was dumb with fright, though he was not
+motionless. He beat himself against the wires and thrust his beak
+through the openings, in vain efforts to escape. We looked at him with
+great interest, but we had not the heart to keep him very long. In a few
+minutes he was taken out of the cage in a hand (which he tried to bite),
+carried to the door and set free.
+
+Away like a flash went the little boy blue and alighted in a tree beside
+the house. For a few moments he panted for breath, and then he opened
+his mouth to tell the news to whom it might concern. In rapid succession
+he uttered half a dozen jay-baby squawks, rested a moment, then repeated
+them, hopping about the tree in great excitement.
+
+In less than thirty seconds his cries were answered. A bluejay appeared
+on the barn; another was seen in a spruce close by; three came to a tall
+tree across the road; and from near and far we heard the calls of
+friends trooping to the rescue.
+
+Meanwhile the birds of the neighborhood, where the squawk of a jay was
+seldom heard, began to take an interest in this unusual gathering. Two
+cedar birds, with the policy of peace which their Quaker garb suggests,
+betook themselves to a safe distance, a cat-bird went to the tree to
+interview the clamorous stranger, a vireo made its appearance on the
+branches, and followed the big baby in blue from perch to perch, looking
+at him with great curiosity, while a veery uttered his plaintive cry
+from the fence below.
+
+All this attention was too much for a bluejay, who always wants plenty
+of elbow room in this wide world. He flew off towards the woods, where,
+after a proper interval to see that no more babies were in trouble, he
+was followed by his grown-up relatives from every quarter. But I think
+they had a convention to talk it over, up in the woods, for squawks and
+cries of many kinds came from that direction for a long time.
+
+
+
+
+IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY.
+
+  Where shall we keep the holiday?
+
+  Up and away! where haughty woods
+  Front the liberated floods:
+  We will climb the broad-backed hills,
+  Hear the uproar of their joy;
+  We will mark the leaps and gleams
+  Of the new-delivered streams,
+  And the murmuring river of sap
+  Mount in the pipes of the trees.
+
+  And the colors of joy in the bird
+  And the love in his carol heard.
+  Frog and lizard in holiday coats,
+  And turtle brave in his golden spots.
+
+  EMERSON.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+THAT WITCHING SONG.
+
+
+A year or two before setting up my tent in the Black River Country,
+began my acquaintance with the author of the witching song.
+
+The time was evening; the place, the veranda of a friend's summer
+cottage at Lake George. The vireo and the redstart had ceased their
+songs; the cat-bird had flirted "good-night" from the fence; even the
+robin, last of all to go to bed, had uttered his final peep and vanished
+from sight and hearing; the sun had gone down behind the mountains
+across the lake, and I was listening for the whippoorwill who lived at
+the edge of the wood to take up the burden of song and carry it into the
+night.
+
+Suddenly there burst upon the silence a song that startled me. It was
+loud and distinct as if very near, yet it had the spirit and the echoes
+of the woods in it; a wild, rare, thrilling strain, the woods themselves
+made vocal. Such it seemed to me. I was strangely moved, and filled from
+that moment with an undying determination to trace that witching song to
+the bird that could utter it.
+
+"I'm going to seek my singer," was the message I flung back next
+morning, as, opera-glass in hand, I started down the orchard towards the
+woods. I followed the path under the apple-trees, passed the daisy
+field, white from fence to fence with beauty,--despair of the farmer,
+but delight of the cottagers,--hurried across the pasture beyond,
+skirting the little knoll on which the cow happened this morning to be
+feeding, crossed the brook on a plank, and reached my daily walk.
+
+This was a broad path that ran for half a mile on the edge of the lake.
+Behind it, penetrated every now and then by a foot-path, was the bit of
+old woods that the clearers of this land had the grace to leave, to
+charm the eye and refresh the soul (though probably not for that
+reason). Before it stretched the clear, sparkling waters of Lake George,
+and on the other side rose abruptly one of the beautiful mountains that
+fringe that exquisite piece of water.
+
+Usually I passed half the morning here, seated on one of the rocks that
+cropped out everywhere, filling my memory with pictures to take home
+with me. But to-day I could not stay. I entered one of the paths, passed
+into the grand, silent woods, found a comfortable seat on a bed of pine
+needles, with the trunk of a tall maple tree for a back, and prepared
+to wait. I would test Thoreau's assertion that if one will sit long
+enough in some attractive spot in the woods, sooner or later every
+inhabitant of it will pass before him. I had confidence in Thoreau's
+woodcraft, for has not Emerson said:--
+
+  "What others did at distance hear,
+    And guessed within the thicket's gloom,
+  Was shown to this philosopher,
+    And at his bidding seemed to come"?
+
+and I resolved to sit there till I should see my bird. I was confident I
+should know him: a wild, fearless eye, I was sure, a noble bearing, a
+dweller on the tree-tops.
+
+Alas! I forgot one phrase in Thoreau's statement: "sooner or _later_."
+No doubt the Concord hermit was a true prophet; but how many of the
+inhabitants are "later"--too late, indeed, for a mortal who, unlike our
+New England philosopher, has such weak human needs as food and rest, and
+whose back will be tired in spite of her enthusiasm, if she sits a few
+hours on a rock, with a tree for a back.
+
+Many of the sweet and shy residents of that lovely bit of wildness
+showed themselves while I waited. A flicker, whose open door was in
+sight, and who was plainly engaged in setting her house in order,
+entertained me for a long time. Silently she stole in, I did not see
+how. Her first appearance to me was on the trunk, the opposite side
+from her nest, whence she slid, or so it looked, in a series of jerks to
+her door, paused a few minutes on the step to look sharply at me, and
+then disappeared, head first, within. Quick as a jack-in-the-box, her
+head popped out again to see if the spy had moved while she had been out
+of sight, and finding all serene, she threw herself with true feminine
+energy into her work. The beak-loads she brought to the door and flung
+out seemed so insufficient that I longed to lend her a broom; but I
+found she had a better helper than that, a partner.
+
+When she tired, or thought she had earned a rest, she came out, and
+flying to the limb above the nest, began softly calling. Never was the
+ventriloquial quality more plainly exhibited. I heard that low "ka! ka!
+ka! ka! ka!" long repeated, and I looked with interest in every
+direction to see the bird appear. For a long time I did not suspect the
+sly dame so quietly resting on the branch, and when I did it was only by
+the closest inspection that I discovered the slight jerk of the tail,
+the almost imperceptible movement of the beak, that betrayed her.
+
+Another as well as I heard that call, and he responded. He was exactly
+like her, with the addition of a pair of black "mustachios," and it may
+be she told him that the strange object under the maple had not moved
+for half an hour, and was undoubtedly some new device of man's, made of
+wood perhaps, for he did not hesitate on the door-step, but plunged in
+at once, and devoted himself to the business in hand, clearing out,
+while she vanished.
+
+But though I watched this domestic scene with pleasure, and saw and
+noted every feather that appeared about me, the tree-tops had my closest
+attention, for there I was certain I should find my rare singer. Hours
+passed, the shadows grew long, and sadly and slowly I took my way
+homewards, wishing I had a charm against fatigue, mosquitoes, and other
+terrors of the night, and could stay out till he came.
+
+All through the month of June I haunted that wood, seeking the unknown.
+Every evening I heard him, but no sight came to gladden my eyes. I grew
+almost to believe it merely "a wandering voice," and I went home with my
+longing unsatisfied.
+
+When next the month of roses came around, I betook myself to a spur of
+the Hoosac Mountains to see my birds. The evening of my arrival, as the
+twilight gathered, rose the call of my witching voice.
+
+"What bird is that?" I demanded, with the usual result; no one knew. (A
+chapter might be written on the ignorance of country people of their
+own birds and plants. A chapter, did I say? A book, a dozen books, the
+country is full of material.)
+
+"I shall find that bird," I said, "if I stay a year." In the morning I
+set out. The song had come from the belt of trees that hang lovingly
+over a little stream on its merry way down the mountain, and thither I
+turned my steps. Now, my hostess had a drove of twenty cows, wild,
+head-tossing creatures,--"Holsteins" they were,--and having half a dozen
+pastures, they were changed about from day to day. Driving them every
+morning was almost as exciting as the stampede of a drove of horses, and
+it seemed as if they could never reconcile themselves to the
+idiosyncrasies of the American woman. The pasture where they were shut
+for the day was as sacred from my foot as if it were filled with mad
+dogs. My mere appearance near the fence was a signal for a headlong race
+to the spot to see what on earth I was doing now.
+
+I went into the field, looking cautiously about, and satisfying myself
+that the too curious foreigners were not within sight, found a
+comfortable seat on a bank overlooking the whole beautiful view of the
+brook and its waving green borders, and commanding the approach to my
+side of the field.
+
+This time again my mysterious singer proved to be among the "later"
+ones, and after spending an hour or two there, I rose to go back, when
+in passing a thick-growing evergreen tree, I saw that I had created a
+panic. There was a flutter of wings, there were cries, and on the tree,
+in plain sight, the towhee bunting and his brown-clad spouse. Of course
+there must be some reason for this reckless display; I sought the cause,
+and found a nest, a mere depression in the ground, and one sorry-looking
+youngster, the sole survivor of the perils of the situation. Over that
+one nestling they were as concerned as the proverbial hen with one
+chicken, and they flitted about in distress while I looked at their
+half-fledged bantling, and hoped it was a singer to ring the delightful
+silver-toned tremolo that had charmed me that morning.
+
+That evening, listening on the piazza to the usual twilight chorus, the
+wood-thrush far-off, the towhee from the pasture, the robins all around,
+I heard suddenly the "quee-o" of a bird I knew, so near that I started,
+and my eyes fell directly upon him, standing on the lowest limb of a
+dead tree, not ten feet from me.
+
+He was so near I did not need my glass, nor indeed did I dare move a
+finger, lest he take flight. Several times he uttered his soft call, and
+then, while my eyes were fastened upon him, he began quivering with
+excitement, his wings lifted a little, and in a clear though low tone
+he uttered the long-sought song. I held my breath, and he repeated it,
+each time lower than before. Even at that distance it sounded far off,
+and doubtless many times in the woods, when I looked for it afar, it may
+have been over my head.
+
+A long time--how long I cannot guess--that beautiful bird sat and sang
+his witching evening hymn, while I listened spellbound.
+
+It was the tawny thrush,--the veery.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE VEERY MOTHER.
+
+
+My next interview with the veery family took place the following June,
+at the foot of Mount Greylock, in Massachusetts. I had just returned
+from a walk down the meadow, put on wrapper and slippers, and
+established myself by the window to write some letters. Pen, ink, paper,
+and all the accessories were spread out before me. I dipped my pen in
+the ink and wrote "My Dear," when a sound fell upon my ears: it was the
+cry of a young bird! it was new to me! it had a veery ring!
+
+Away went my good resolutions, and my pen with them; papers flew to
+right and left; hither and thither scattered the letters I had meant to
+answer. I snatched my glass, seized my hat as I passed, and was
+outdoors. In the open air the call sounded louder, and plainly came from
+the borders of the brook that with its fringe of trees divides the yard
+from the pasture beyond. It was a two-syllabled utterance like "quee
+wee," but it had the intermitted or tremolo sound that distinguishes the
+song of the tawny thrush from others. I could locate the bird almost to
+a twig, but nobody cared if I could. It was on the other side of the
+brook and the deep gully through which it ran, and they who had that
+youngster in charge could laugh at me.
+
+But I knew the way up the brookside. I went down the road to the bars,
+crossed the water on stepping-stones, and in a few minutes entered a
+cow-path that wandered up beside the stream. All was quiet; the young
+thrush no doubt had been hushed. They were waiting for me to pass by, as
+I often did, for that was a common walk of mine. On this log I sat one
+day to watch a woodchuck; a little further on was the rock from which I
+had peeped into a robin's nest, where one egg had been alone a week, and
+I never saw a robin near it.
+
+At length I reached the path that ran up the bank where I usually turned
+and went to the pasture, for beyond this the cow-path descended, and
+looked damp and wild, as if it might once have been the way of the cows,
+but now was abandoned. Still all was quiet, and I thought of my letters
+unanswered, of my slippers, and--and I turned to go back.
+
+Just at that moment that unlucky young thrush opened his mouth for a
+cry; the birds had been too sure. I forgot my letters again, and looked
+at the path beyond. I thought I could see a dry way, so I took a step
+or two forward. This was too much! this I had never before done, and I
+believe those birds were well used to my habits, for the moment I passed
+my usual bounds a cry rang out, loud, and a bird flew past my head. She
+alighted near me. It was a tawny thrush; and when one of those shy
+birds, who fly if I turn my head behind the blinds, gets bold, there's a
+good reason for it. I thanked madam for giving me my cue; I knew now it
+was her baby, and I walked slowly on.
+
+I had to go slowly, for the placing of each foot required study. It is
+surprising what a quantity of water will stand on the steep sides of a
+mountain. Some parts of this one were like a marsh, or a saturated
+sponge, and everywhere a cow had stepped was a small pool. As I
+proceeded the thrush grew more and more uneasy. She came so near me that
+I saw she had a gauzy-winged fly in her mouth, another proof that she
+had young ones near. She called, without opening her beak, her usual low
+"quee."
+
+Finding a dry spot, and the baby-cry having ceased, I sat down to
+consider and to wait. Then the bird seemed suddenly to remember how
+compromising her mouthful was, and she planted herself on a branch
+before my eyes, deliberately ate that fly and wiped her beak, as who
+should say, "You thought I was carrying that morsel to somebody, but
+you see I have eaten it myself; there's nothing up that path." But much
+as I respected the dear mother, I did not believe her eloquent
+demonstration. I selected another point where I could stop a minute, and
+picked my way to it. Then all my poor little bird's philosophy deserted
+her; she came close to me, she uttered the greatest variety of cries;
+she almost begged me to believe that she was the only living creature up
+that gully. And so much did she move me, so intolerably brutal did she
+make me feel, that for the second time I was very near to turning back.
+
+But the cry began again. How could I miss so good a chance to see that
+tawny youngster, when I knew I should not lay finger on it? I hardened
+my heart, and struggled a few feet further.
+
+Then some of the neighbors came to see what was the trouble, and if they
+could do anything about it. A black-and-white creeper rose from a low
+bush with a surprised "chit-it-it-it," alighted on a tree and ran glibly
+up the upright branch as though it were a ladder. But a glance at the
+"cause of all this woe" was more than his courage could endure; one cry
+escaped him, and then a streak of black and white passed over the road
+out of sight.
+
+Next came a redstart, himself the head of a family, for he too had his
+beak full of provisions. He was not in the least dismayed; he perched on
+a twig and looked over at me with interest, as if trying to see what the
+veery found so terrifying, and then continued on his way home. A
+snow-bird was the last visitor, and he came nearer and nearer, not at
+all frightened, merely curious, but madam evidently distrusted him, for
+she flew at him, intimating in a way that he plainly understood that
+"his room was better than his company."
+
+Still I floundered on, and now the disturbed mother added a new cry,
+like the bleating of a lamb. I never should have suspected a bird of
+making that sound; it was a perfect "ba-ha-ha." Yet on listening
+closely, I saw that it was the very tremolo that gives the song of the
+male its peculiar thrill. Her "ba-ha-ha," pitched to his tone, and with
+his intervals, would be a perfect reproduction of it. No doubt she could
+sing, and perhaps she does,--who knows?
+
+Now the mother threw in occasionally a louder sort of call-note like
+"pee-ro," which was quickly followed by the appearance of another
+thrush, her mate, I presume. He called, too, the usual "quee-o," but he
+kept himself well out of sight; no reckless mother-love made him lose
+his reason. Still, steadily though slowly, and with many pauses to
+study out the next step, I progressed. The cry, often suppressed for
+minutes at a time, was perceptibly nearer. The bank was rougher than
+ever, but with one scramble I was sure I could reach my prize. I started
+carefully, when a cry rang out sudden and sharp and close at hand. At
+that instant the stone I had put faith in failed me basely and rolled:
+one foot _went in_, a dead twig caught my hair, part of my dress
+remained with the sharp end of a broken branch, I came to one knee (but
+not in a devotional spirit); I struck the ground with one hand and a
+brier-bush with the other, but I did not drop my glass, and I reached my
+goal in a fashion.
+
+I paused to recover my breath and give that youngster, who I was
+persuaded was laughing at me all the time, a chance to lift up his voice
+again. But he had subsided, while the mother was earnest as ever.
+Perhaps I was too near, or had scared him out of his wits by my
+sensational entry. While I was patiently studying every twig on the tree
+from which the last cry had come, the slight flutter of a leaf caught my
+eye, and there stood the long-sought infant himself.
+
+He was a few feet below me. I could have laid my hands upon him, but he
+did not appear to see me, and stood like a statue while I studied his
+points. Mamma, too, was suddenly quiet; either she saw at last that my
+intentions were friendly, or she thought the supreme moment had come,
+and was paralyzed. I had no leisure to look after her; I wanted to make
+acquaintance with her bairn, and I did. He was the exact image of his
+parents; I should have known him anywhere, the same soft, tawny back,
+and light under-parts, but no tail to be seen, and only a dumpy pair of
+wings, which would not bear him very far. The feathers of his side
+looked rough, and not fully out, but his head was lovely and his eye was
+the wild free eye of a veery. I saw the youngster utter his cry. I saw
+him fly four or five feet, and then I climbed the bank, hopeless of
+returning the way I had come, pushed my way between detaining spruces,
+and emerged once more on dry ground. I had been two hours on the trail.
+
+I slipped into the house the back way, and hastened to my room, where I
+counted the cost: slippers ruined, dress torn, hand scratched, toilet a
+general wreck. But I had seen the tawny-thrush baby, and I was happy.
+And it's no common thing to do, either. Does not Emerson count it among
+Thoreau's remarkable feats that
+
+  "All her shows did Nature yield
+  To please and win this pilgrim wise;
+  He found the tawny thrush's brood,
+  And the shy hawk did wait for him"?
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+THE TAWNY THRUSH'S BROOD.
+
+
+"He found the tawny thrush's brood," says Emerson, in enumerating the
+special gifts of the nature-lover whose praise he celebrates. Whether
+the reference were to Thoreau or to another "forest-seer," it was
+certainly to a fortunate and happy man, whom I have always envied till I
+learned to find the shy brood myself.
+
+I shall never forget the exciting and blissful moment when I discovered
+my first tawny-thrush nest. It was the crowning event of a long search.
+
+It was not until the fourth year that I had looked for him, that I came
+really to know the bird, to see his family, and last of all his nest. My
+summer abiding-place in the Black River country was very near a bit of
+woods where veeries were plentiful, and I saw them at all hours, and
+under nearly all conditions.
+
+My favorite seat was at the foot of a low-growing tree in the edge of
+the woods, where the branches hung over and almost hid me. From under
+my green screen I could look out into a field golden with buttercups,
+with scattering elms and maples, while behind me was the forest, the
+chosen haunt of this bird. Here, unseen, I listened to his song,--
+
+  "O matchless melody! O perfect art!
+  O lovely, lofty voice unfaltering!"
+
+till my soul was filled with rapture, and a longing to know him in his
+home relations took such possession of me that the world seemed to hold
+but one object of desire, a veery's nest.
+
+Yet though the woods were full of them, so wary and so wise were the
+little builders that not a nest could I find. I studied the descriptions
+in the books; I examined the nests in a collection at hand. The books
+declared, and the specimens confirmed the statement, that the cradle of
+the tawny thrush would be found amid certain surroundings. Many such
+places existed in the woods, and I never passed one without seeking a
+nest; but always unsuccessfully, till, as June days were rapidly
+passing, I came to have a feeling something akin to despair when I heard
+the veery notes.
+
+One day,--it was Sunday afternoon,--I was still grieving over the lost,
+or rather the unfound nest, and my friend was sitting composedly on the
+veranda writing letters, when restlessness seized me, and I resolved to
+take a quiet walk. I sauntered slowly down the road, towards the woods,
+of course; all roads in that charming place led to the woods.
+
+I had nearly reached the "Sunset Corner," where I had a half-formed
+intention of resting and then turning back, when my eyes fell upon--but
+hold! I will not describe it, lest I enlighten one more collector, and
+aid in the robbery, perhaps the death, of one more bird-mother. Suffice
+it to say what I saw resembled, though not perfectly, the surroundings
+of a veery's nest as described in the books.
+
+Of course there could be no nest there, I thought, yet the ruling
+passion asserted itself at once. It would at least do no harm to look. I
+left the path, walked carelessly up to the spot, and looked at it. It
+seemed empty of life; but as I gazed, there gradually took form a head,
+a pair of anxious eyes fixed upon mine, a beak pointed upward, and there
+was my nest! almost at my feet.
+
+Joy and surprise contended within me. I thought not of the mother's
+anxiety; I stood and stared, absolutely paralyzed with delight.
+
+But not for long. I remembered my friend who had not found the tawny
+thrush's nest, and with whom I must instantly share my happiness, and
+carefully marking the locality, not to lose what I had so accidentally
+found, and might so easily lose, I moved quietly away till I reached
+the road. Then I hurried to an opening in the trees from which the house
+could be seen. Here I stopped; the letter-writer looked up. I waved my
+green bough in triumph above my head, and with the other hand I
+beckoned.
+
+"A veery's nest!" she thought at once. Away went paper and pen, and in a
+moment she joined me. Together we stood beside the beautiful sitting
+thrush, so brave, though no doubt suffering from deadly terror. Then we
+slowly walked away, rejoicing. It was so near the house! so easy to
+watch! the bird not at all afraid! All the way home we congratulated
+ourselves.
+
+The next morning our first thought was of the veery's nest, and on
+starting out for the day we turned in that direction. Alas! the old
+story! The nest was overturned and thrown out of place, the leaves were
+trampled; there had evidently been a struggle of some kind. No birds, no
+eggs, not a bit of broken shell--nothing was left, except one dark brown
+spotted feather from a large bird, whether hawk or owl I shall never
+know, for neglecting to take it at the moment, it was gone when I
+thought of it as a witness.
+
+Again the old longing for a nest assailed me; but I was not without
+hope, for I had my hint. I had found out what sort of places the
+veeries in this neighborhood liked. After that I never went into the
+woods, on whatever errand bent, but I kept my eyes open for the chosen
+situation. I examined dozens of promising spots, and I found nests that
+had been used, which proved that I was on the right track, and kept up
+my courage.
+
+It was several days before another tawny-thrush cradle in use gladdened
+our eyes, and this was in a wild part of the woods where we seldom went.
+We were drawn there by the song of a tiny warbler, whose nest my friend
+desired to find, since it was rare; and in passing a thicket of maple
+saplings three feet high, she discovered a nest. She quickly parted the
+leaves and looked in; three young birds opened their mouths for food.
+"Veeries!" she exclaimed, in surprise. "What a strange place!"
+
+This little home rested on a bare dead stick that had fallen and lodged
+in a living branch, and the dead leaves used by veeries in their
+building made it conspicuous, when the eyes happened to fall upon it;
+but it was so well concealed by living branches that one might pass
+fifty times and not see it. I describe this location, for it was very
+unusual.
+
+We looked at the birdlings; we walked on till we came to the place where
+we turned from the path to see the warbler's little domicile. My friend
+passed along. I lingered a moment, for it was a lovely spot, attractive
+to birds as to bird-lovers, and high up in the air on the upturned roots
+of a fallen tree
+
+                   "an elder or two
+  Foamed over with blossoms white as spray."
+
+While I stood there admiring the brave little bush that kept on living
+and blooming, though lifted into an unnatural position by the tree at
+whose feet it had grown, some mysterious drawing made me look closely at
+a spot beside the road which we had passed many times without special
+notice. There I found our third veery nest, the mother bird sitting.
+
+Henceforth, every morning we went up the veery road, and before each
+little nursery we sat us down to watch and study. It was necessary to be
+very quiet, the birds in the saplings were so nervous; but keeping still
+in the woods in summer is not the easy performance it is elsewhere,
+though great are the inducements. From one side comes the chirp of the
+winter wren, from the other, low, excited calls of veeries, and nothing
+but absolute quiet seems necessary to capture some of the charming
+secrets of their lives. Meanwhile a dancing and singing host collects
+around one's head. I call up my philosophy; I resolve not to care,
+though I shall be devoured. My philosophy stands the strain; I do not
+_care_; but my nerves basely fail me, and after a few moments, and a
+dozen stings here and there, I spring involuntarily to my feet, wildly
+flourish my wisp of leaves, and of course put to instant flight the
+actors in the drama before me.
+
+The pair of veeries in the maple bushes were never reconciled to our
+visits. They called and cried in all the varied inflections of their
+sweet voices, and they moved uneasily about on the low branches with
+mouths full of food. But though we were as motionless as circumstances
+would permit, they never learned to trust us.
+
+One--the mother, doubtless--did sometimes pay a flying visit to her
+three darlings under the leaves; but she undoubtedly felt that she took
+her life in her hands (so to speak), and it did not give her courage.
+She returned to her post and cried no less than before. We were not
+heartless; we could not bear to torture the timid creatures, and
+therefore we never stayed very long.
+
+Every day we looked at the growing babies, who passed most of their time
+in sleep, as babies should; and at last came the time, sooner than
+expected, when we found the family had flitted. Nestlings cradled near
+the ground seem to be spared the long period in the nest endured by
+birdlings who must be able to fly before they can safely go. Young
+veeries and bobolinks, song sparrows and warblers, who build low,
+apparently take leave of the nursery as soon they can stand up.
+Thereafter the parents must seek them on the ground; and if the student
+follows their chirps, he will often see the droll little dumpy fellows
+running about or crouched under bushes until their wing feathers shall
+grow and lift them to the bird's world, above the dull earth.
+
+After the exit of the family in the maples, we kept closer watch of the
+remaining nest. Every day we passed it, and not always at the same hour,
+yet never but once did we find the mother away, and seven days after
+that morning, when not one youngster had broken the shell, the family
+was gone.
+
+The young birds in the maples we had seen in the nest for five days
+after they were hatched, so we were forced to believe that either the
+second nest had been robbed, or that the mother had watched for us, and
+flown to cover her babies after they were hatched, till we had paid our
+daily visit and passed on. This latter may be the correct conclusion,
+and if so, her conduct was entirely different from that of any veery I
+have seen.
+
+Whatever cause had emptied the thrush cradle we found no signs of
+disturbance about it, and we heard no lamentations. But we did hear
+from every impenetrable tangle in the woods, the baby-cries of young
+thrushes; and we ventured to hope that no hawk or owl or squirrel, or
+other foe in feathers or in fur, had carried off the nestlings of that
+brave brown-eyed mamma.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+A MEADOW NEST.
+
+
+A bird's nest in the middle of a meadow is as isolated as if on an
+island; for the most eager bird student, though he may look and long
+afar off, will hesitate before he harrows the soul of the owner of the
+fair waving sea of grass by trampling it down. In such a secure place,
+among scattered old apple-trees, a pair of veeries had set up their
+household, surrounded and protected from every enemy who does not wear
+wings.
+
+They were late in nesting, for young veeries were out everywhere.
+Doubtless the first home had been destroyed, and they had selected this
+retreat in the midst of the tall grass for its seclusion and apparent
+safety.
+
+What dismay, then, must have filled the heart of the timid creatures
+when there arrived, one morning, a party of men and horses and machines,
+who proceeded at once, with the clatter and confusion which follows the
+doings of men, to lay low their green protecting walls, and expose their
+cherished treasures to the greed or the cruelty of their worst enemies!
+Not less their surprise and grief when, after the uproar of cutting,
+raking and carrying away their only screen, there entered the silent but
+watchful spies, who planted their stools in plain sight, to take note of
+all their doings.
+
+The nest, with its babies three, was wide open to the sun; no one could
+pass without seeing it. It was in a cluster of shoots growing up from
+the roots of an old apple-tree, and so closely crowded between them that
+its shape was oval.
+
+The nestlings were nearly ready to fly, and I hoped that birds brave
+enough to come out of the woods and build among apple-trees would be
+less afraid of people than the woods dwellers. So when I learned of my
+comrade's discovery I hastened at once to make the acquaintance of this,
+our fourth nesting-veery of the summer.
+
+The parents were absent when I seated myself at some distance from their
+homestead to wait. They soon came, together, with food in their mouths;
+but their eager, happy manner vanished at sight of me, and they
+abandoned themselves to utter despair, after the manner of veeries. They
+stood motionless on neighboring perches, and cried and bewailed the
+anticipated fate of those babies for all of the short time that I was
+able to endure it. A kingbird came to the tree under which I sat, to see
+for himself the terrible bugaboo, and a robin or two, as usual,
+interested themselves in the affairs of a neighbor in trouble.
+
+Thirty minutes proved to be as long as I could bring myself to stay, and
+then I meekly retired to the furthest corner of the field, where I made
+myself as inconspicuous as possible, and hoped I might be allowed to
+remain. Kingbird and robins accepted the compromise and returned to
+their own affairs; but the veeries by turns fed the babies and reviled
+me from a tree near my retreat, till I took pity on their distress and
+left the orchard altogether.
+
+Not only does the veery exhibit this strong liking for solitude, and
+express the loneliness of the woods more perfectly than any other bird,
+with the exception, perhaps, of the wood-pewee; but his calls and cries
+are all plaintive, many of them sensational, and one or two really
+tragic.
+
+His most common utterance, as he flits lightly from branch to branch, is
+a low, sweet "quee-o," sometimes hardly above a whisper. When everything
+is quiet about him one may often hear an extraordinary performance.
+Beginning the usual call of "quee-o," in a tender and mournful tone, he
+will repeat it again and again at short intervals, every time with more
+pathetic inflection, till the wrought-up listener cannot resist the
+feeling that the next sound must be a burst of tears. Although his notes
+seem melancholy to hearers, however, the beautiful bird himself is far
+from expressing that emotion in his manner.
+
+Aside from the enchanting quality of his calls, and the thrilling
+magnetism of his song, the tawny thrush is an exceedingly interesting
+bird. In his reserved way he is socially inclined, showing no dislike to
+an acquaintance with his human neighbors, and even evincing a curiosity
+and willingness to be friendly, most winning to see.
+
+Speak to one who, as you passed, has flown up from the ground and
+alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, looking at you with clear, calm
+eyes. He will not fly; he will even answer you. You may stand there half
+an hour and talk to him and hear his low replies. It seems as if it were
+the easiest thing in the world to inspire him with perfect confidence,
+to coax him to a real intimacy. But there is a limit to his
+trustfulness. When he has a nest and little ones to protect, as already
+shown, he is a different bird; he is wild with terror and distress, and
+refuses to be comforted when one approaches the sacred spot.
+
+This unfortunate distrust of one's intentions makes it very hard for a
+student who loves the individual bird to watch his nest. One can't
+endure to give pain to the gentle and winsome creature. The mournful,
+despairing cry of both parents, "ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik!" constantly
+repeated, makes me, at least, feel like a robber and a murderer, and no
+number of "facts" to be gained will compensate me for the suffering thus
+caused.
+
+One more phase of veery character I was surprised and delighted to
+learn. Sitting on a log in the edge of the woods one evening, just at
+sunset, I listened to the singing of one of these birds quite close to
+me, but hidden from sight. I had never been so near a singer, and I was
+surprised to hear, after every repetition of his song, a low response, a
+sort of whispered "chee." Was it his mate answering, or criticising his
+music? Was it the first note of his newly-fledged offspring? Or could it
+be _sotto voce_ remarks of the bird himself? It was impossible to
+decide, and I went home much puzzled to account for it; but a day or two
+later the mystery was solved,--the thrush showed himself to be a
+humorist.
+
+The odd performance by which I discovered this fact I saw through my
+closed blind. The bird was in plain sight on a small dead tree, but it
+was a retired spot, where he was accustomed to see no one, and he
+evidently did not suspect that he had a listener.
+
+He had eaten his fill from a cluster of elderberries I had hung on the
+tree, and he lingered to sing a little, as he often did. First he
+uttered a call, aloud, clear "quee-o," and followed it instantly by a
+mocking squawk in an undertone. I could hardly believe my eyes and ears,
+and at once gave much closer attention to him. As if for the express
+purpose of convincing me that I had not been mistaken, he instantly
+repeated his effort; and after doing so two or three times, he poured
+out his regular song in his sweet, ringing voice, and followed it by a
+whispered "mew," almost exactly in the tone of pussy herself.
+
+He was not far from my window, across a small yard, and as plainly seen
+through my glass as though not six feet away. I saw his beak and throat,
+and am absolutely certain that he delivered every note. The absorbed
+singer stood there motionless a long time, and carried on this queer
+conversation with himself. It sounded precisely like two birds, one of
+whom was mocking or ridiculing the other in a low tone.
+
+Sometimes the undertone, as said above, was a squawk; again it resembled
+a squeal; now it was petulant, as though the performer scoffed at his
+own singing; and then it was a perfect copy of the song itself, given in
+an indescribably sneering manner. I could think of nothing but the way
+in which one child will sometimes mock the words of another.
+
+It was very droll, as well as exceedingly interesting, and I hope some
+day to study further this unfamiliar side of the thrush nature.
+
+After my unsuccessful attempt to disarm the fears and suspicions of the
+meadow-nesting thrushes, we left the little family to its much loved
+solitude, and in a day or two the whole nestful departed.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+A JUNE ROUND OF CALLS.
+
+
+"I should like to meet you two in that rig on Fifth Avenue," calmly said
+our hostess one morning in June, as we started out on our regular round
+of calls.
+
+What a suggestion! We stared at each other with a new standard of
+criticism in our eyes. We were not exactly in ordinary visiting costume;
+but then, neither were we making ordinary visits, for the calling-list
+of June differs in every way from that of January. The neighbors at
+whose doors we appeared would be quite as well (or as ill) pleased to
+see us in our dull green woods dress, with fresh leaves on our hats to
+convey the impression that we were mere perambulating shrubs, with
+opera-glasses instead of cards, and camp-stools in place of a carriage,
+as though we had been in regulation array. Away we went, the big dog
+prancing ahead with the camp-stool of his mistress.
+
+Our first call was upon a small dame very high up in the world, thirty
+feet at least. The mention of Fifth Avenue suggests that possibly our
+manners were not above criticism. We introduced ourselves to Madam
+Wood-Pewee not by ringing and sending up cards, but by pausing before
+her door, seating ourselves on our stools, and leveling our glasses at
+her house. We felt, indeed, that we had almost a proprietary interest in
+that little lichen-covered nest resting snugly in a fork of a dead
+branch, for we had assisted in building it, at least by our daily
+presence, during the week or two that she spent in bringing, in the most
+desultory way, snips of material, fastening them in place, and moulding
+the whole by getting in the nest and pressing her breast against it,
+while turning slowly round and round. Now that she had really settled
+herself to sit, we never neglected to leave a card upon her, so to
+speak, every morning.
+
+As we approached we were pleased to see her trim lord and master bearing
+in his mouth what was no doubt intended for a delicate offering to cheer
+her weary hours, for a gauzy yellow wing stuck out on each side of his
+beak, suggesting something uncommonly nice within. He stood a moment
+till we should pass, looking the picture of unconsciousness, and defying
+us to assert that he had a house and home anywhere about that tree. But
+when we did not pass, after hesitatingly hopping from perch to perch
+nearer the nest, he deliberately diverted yellow wing from its original
+destiny, swallowed it himself, and wiped his beak with an air that said:
+"There now! What can you make out of that?"
+
+Ashamed to have deprived the little sitter of her treat, we folded our
+stools and resumed our march.
+
+How shall one put into words the delights of the woods in June without
+"dropping into poetry?" Does not our own native poet say:--
+
+  "Who speeds to the woodland walks?
+  To birds and trees who talks?
+  Cæsar of his leafy Rome,
+  There the _poet_ is at home."
+
+But if one is not a poet, must he then suffer and enjoy in silence? When
+he puts aside the leafy portière and enters the cool green paradise of
+the trees, must he be dumb? Slowly, almost solemnly, we walked up the
+beautiful road with its carpet of dead leaves. It was as silent of man's
+ways as if he were not within a thousand miles, and we had all the
+enjoyment of the deep forest, with the comforting assurance that five
+minutes' walk would bring us to people.
+
+A small family in dark slate-color and white, with a curious taste for
+the antique cave-dwelling, was next on our list. The home was an
+excavation in the soft earth, held together by the roots of an
+overturned tree, and everything was quiet when we arrived--the two
+well-grown infants sound asleep on their hair mattress. We sat down to
+wait, and in a moment we heard the anxious "pip" of the returning
+parents. They had been attending to their regular morning work, and both
+brought food for those youngsters, who woke inopportunely--as babies
+will--and demanded it instantly.
+
+Junco--for he was the head of this household--paused on a twig near by,
+opened and shut his beautiful white-bordered tail, in the embarrassing
+consideration whether he should go in before our eyes and take the risk
+of our intentions, or let his evidently starving offspring suffer. He
+"eyed us over;" he waited till his modest little spouse, acting from
+feeling rather than from judgment (as was to be expected from one of her
+unreasoning sex), had slipped in from below, administered her morsel to
+those precious babies, and escaped unharmed. Then he plucked up courage,
+boldly entered his door, gave a poke behind it, and flew away.
+
+A week later, after we had called as usual one morning and found the
+house empty, he brought his pretty snow-birdlings in their tidy striped
+bibs up to the grove at the back door, where we often heard his sharp
+trilling little song, and saw him working like some bigger papas to keep
+the dear clamorous mouths filled.
+
+The Junco neighborhood was a populous part of our calling district.
+Behind his cave, in a high tree, lived a family of golden-winged
+woodpeckers, who "laughed" and talked as loud as they liked, scorning to
+look upon the two spies so far below them. Not quite so self-possessed
+and bold were they a little later, when madam came up to the grass by
+the farmhouse with her young son to teach him to dig, for that is what
+she did. He was a canny youngster, though he was shy, and had no notion
+of being left in the lurch for a moment. If mamma flew to the fence, he
+instantly followed; did she return to the ground, baby was in a second
+at her side demanding attention. On one occasion while I was watching
+them behind my blind, the mother managed to slip away from him and
+disappear. In a moment he realized his deserted condition, stretched up,
+like a lost chicken, looking about on every side, and calling, in a most
+plaintive tone, "pe-au! au!" and then, "au! au! pe-au!" When at length
+he saw his mother, he burst into a loud cry of delight, and flew into a
+locust-tree, where I heard for a long time low complaining cries, as if
+he reproached her for leaving her baby alone on the fence.
+
+On the right of the home of the golden wings, in a sapling not more than
+five feet from the ground, was the residence of a gay little redstart,
+which we had watched almost from the laying of the foundations. We made
+our visit. Yesterday there were two pearls of promise within; to-day,
+alas! nothing.
+
+Squirrels, we said; for those beasts were the bugaboo of the woods to
+its feathered inhabitants. Hardly a nest was so high, so well hidden, or
+so closely watched, but some unlucky day a little fellow--sportsman,
+would you call him?--- in gray or red fur, would find his chance, and
+make his breakfast on next year's song birds.
+
+Musing on this and other tragedies among our friends, we silently turned
+to the next neighbor. At this door we could knock, and we always did.
+(We desired to be civil when circumstances permitted.) A rap or two on
+the dead trunk brought hastily to the door, twenty-five feet high, a
+small head, with a bright red cap and necktie, and eager, questioning
+eyes. Observing that he had guests, he came out, showing his black and
+white coat. But one glance was usually enough; he declined to entertain
+us, and instantly took his leave. We knew him well, however--the
+yellow-bellied woodpecker, or "sapsucker," as he was called in the
+vicinity. This morning we did not need to knock, for one of the family
+was already outside,--a young woodpecker, clinging to the bark, and
+dressing his nest-ruffled plumage for the grand performance, his first
+flight. We resolved at once to assist at the début, secured reserved
+seats with a good view, and seated ourselves to wait.
+
+Didst ever, dear reader, sit in one position on a camp-stool without a
+back, with head thrown back, and eyes fixed upon one small bird thirty
+feet from the ground, afraid to move or turn your eyes, lest you miss
+what you are waiting for, while the sun moves steadily on till his
+hottest rays pour through some opening directly upon you; while
+mosquitoes sing about your ears (would that they sang only!), and flies
+buzz noisily before your face; while birds flit past, and strange notes
+sound from behind; while rustling in the dead leaves at your feet
+suggests snakes, and a crawling on your neck proclaims spiders? If you
+have not, you can never appreciate the enthusiasms of a bird student,
+nor realize what neck-breaks and other discomforts one will cheerfully
+endure to witness the first flight of a nestling.
+
+This affair turned out, however, as in many another case of great
+expectations, to be no remarkable performance. When the débutant had
+made his toilet, he flew, as if he had done it all his life, to the next
+tree, where he began at once to call for refreshment, after his
+exertion.
+
+Disappointed, we dropped our eyes, whisked away our insect tormentors,
+gathered up our properties, and passed on our way.
+
+This was the farthest point of our wanderings. The way back was through
+a narrow path beside the oven-bird's pretty domed nest, then between the
+tangle of wild-berry bushes and saplings, where a cuckoo had set up
+housekeeping, and where veeries and warblers had successfully hidden
+their nests, tantalizing us with calls and songs from morning till
+night; from thence through the garden, past the kitchen door, home.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+A BOBOLINK RHAPSODY.
+
+
+Can anything be more lovely than a meadow in June, its tall grass
+overtopped by daisies, whose open faces,
+
+  "Candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free,
+     Publish themselves to the sky"?
+
+One such I knew, despised of men as a meadow, no doubt, but glorious to
+the eye with its unbroken stretch of white bowing before the summer
+breeze like the waves of the sea, and charming as well to pewee and
+kingbird who hovered over it, ever and anon diving and bringing up food
+for the nestlings. When, to a meadow not so completely abandoned to
+daisies, where buttercups and red clover flourish among the grass, is
+added the music of the meadow's poet, the bobolink, surely nothing is
+lacking to its perfection.
+
+Passing such a field one evening, I noted the babble of bobolinks, too
+far off to hear well, and the next day I set out down another path which
+passed through the meadow, to cultivate the acquaintance of the birds.
+It was a warm summer morning, near the middle of June, and when I
+reached the spot not a bobolink was in sight; but I sought a convenient
+bank under an old apple-tree, made myself as inconspicuous as possible,
+and waited. With these birds, however, as I soon found out, my
+precautions were unnecessary. They are not chary of their music; on the
+contrary, they appear to sing directly to a spectator, and they are too
+confident of the security of the nest to be disturbed about that. In a
+moment a black head with its buff cap appeared at the top of a grass
+stem, and instantly the black body, with its grotesque white decoration,
+followed. The bird flew half a dozen feet, singing as he went, as if the
+movement of the wings set the music going, alighted a little nearer,
+sang again, and finally, concluding that here was something to be looked
+after, a human being, such as he was accustomed to see pass by, taking
+possession of a part of the bobolink domain, he flew boldly to a small
+tree a few yards from me. He alighted on the top twig, in plain sight,
+and proceeded to "look me over," a performance which I returned with
+interest. He was silent only a few seconds, but the sound that came from
+his beak amazed me; it was a "mew." If the cat-bird cry resembles that
+of a cat, this was a perfect copy of a kitten's weak wail. It was always
+uttered twice in close succession, and sometimes followed by a harsh
+note that proclaimed his blackbird strain, a "chack!"
+
+His utterance was thus: "mew, mew (quickly), chack!" and I interpreted
+it into a warning to me to leave the premises. I did not go, however,
+and after several repetitions his vigilance began to relax. He was
+really so full of sweet summer madness that it was impossible to keep up
+the rôle of stern guardian of the nests under the veil of buttercups and
+daisies, which he knew all the time I could never find. So, when he
+opened his mouth to say "chack," a note or two would irresistibly bubble
+out beside it, as if he said, "You really must go away, my big friend.
+We cannot have you in our fields;--but, after all, isn't the morning
+delicious?"
+
+After a long conflict between desire to sing and his conviction of duty
+as special policeman, which ludicrously suggested Mr. Dick in his
+struggle between longing to be foolish with David Copperfield and to be
+grave to please Miss Betsy, he fairly gave in and did sing--and such a
+burst! Everybody has tried his hand at characterizing this bird's
+incomparable song, but no one has fully expressed it, for words are not
+capable of it. Perhaps Mrs. Spofford has caught the spirit as well as
+any one:--
+
+  "Last year methinks the bobolinks
+  Filled the low fields with vagrant tune,
+  The sweetest songs of sweetest June--
+  Wild spurts of frolic, always gladly
+  Bubbling, doubling, brightly troubling,
+  Bubbling rapturously, madly."
+
+Expressing himself was so great a relief to my bobolink, after his
+unnatural gravity of demeanor, that he repeated the performance again
+and again. I say repeated it; I found that he had two ways of beginning,
+but after he got into his ecstasy I could think of nothing but how
+marvelous it was, so that whether the two differed all through I am not
+sure. It was every time a new rapture to me as well as to him. One of
+his beginnings that I had time to note before I was lost in the flood of
+melody was of two notes, the second a fifth higher than the first, with
+a "grace-note," very low indeed, before each one. The other beginning
+was also two notes, the second at least a fifth lower than the first,
+with an indescribable jerk between, and uttered so softly that if I had
+been a little further away I could not have heard it. It sounded like
+"tut, now."
+
+Seeing that I remained motionless, the bird forgot altogether his
+uncongenial occupation of watchman, and launched himself into the air
+toward me, soaring round and round me, letting fall such a flood, such a
+torrent, of liquid notes that I thought half a dozen were singing,--and
+then dropped into the grass. Soon others appeared here and there, and
+sang it mattered not how or where,--soaring or beating the wings, on a
+grass stem, the top of a tree, hidden in the grass, or rudely rocked by
+the wind, they "sang and sang and sang."
+
+Then for a while all was still. A turkey leading her fuzzy little brood
+about in the grass thrust her scrawny neck and anxious head above the
+daisies, said "quit! quit!" to me, and returned to the brooding
+mother-tones that kept her family around her. Tiring of my position
+while waiting for the concert to resume, I laid my head back among the
+ferns, letting the daisies and buttercups tower above my
+face,--strangely enough, by this simple act realizing as never before
+the real motherhood of the earth.
+
+While I lay musing, lo, a sudden burst of music above my head! A
+bobolink sailed over my face, not three feet from it, singing his
+merriest, and then dropped into the grass behind me. Oh, never did I so
+much wish for eyes in the back of my head! He must be almost within
+touch, yet I dared not move; doubtless I was under inspection by that
+keen dark eye, for the first movement sent him away with a whir.
+
+My next visitors were a small flock of six or eight cedar-birds, who
+were seriously disturbed by my choice of a couch. Evidently the green
+tent above my head was their chosen tree, and they could not give it up.
+Finding me perfectly silent, they would come, perch in various parts of
+the branches, and turn their wise-looking black spectacles down to look
+at me, keeping up an animated conversation the while. We call the
+cedar-bird silent because he has, as generally supposed, but one low
+note; but he can put into that one an almost infinite variety of
+expressions. If I so much as moved a hand, instantly my Quaker-clad
+friends dived off the tree below the bank across the road, as if, in
+their despair, they had flung themselves madly into the brook at the
+bottom. But I did not suspect them of so rash an act, and, indeed, in a
+few minutes the apple-tree again resounded with their cries.
+
+Meanwhile the sun marched relentlessly on, and the shadows without and
+the feelings within alike pointed to the dinner hour (12 M.). I rose,
+and thereby created a panic in my small world. Six cedar-birds
+disappeared over the bank, a song sparrow flew shrieking across the
+field, a squirrel interrupted in his investigations fled madly along the
+rail fence, every few steps stopping an instant, with hindquarters laid
+flat and tail resting on the rail, to see if his head was still safe on
+his shoulders.
+
+I gathered up my belongings and sauntered off toward home, musing, as I
+went, upon the bobolink family. I had not once seen or heard the little
+mates. Were they busy in the grass with bobolink babies? and did they
+enjoy the music as keenly as I did? How much I "wanted to know"! How I
+should like to see the nests and the nestlings! What sort of a father is
+the gay singer? (Some of the blackbird family are exemplary in this
+relation.) Does he drop his part of poet, of reveler of the meadows, I
+wonder, and come down to the sober prose of stuffing baby mouths? Are
+bobolinks always this jolly, delightful crowd? Are they never
+quarrelsome? Alas! it would take much more than one day, however sunny
+and however long, to tell all these things.
+
+At the edge of the meadow I sat down again, hoping for one more song,
+and then came the crown of the whole morning, the choicest reserved for
+the last. A bird sailed out from behind the daisies, passed over my
+head, and delivered the most bewitching rhapsody I had yet heard. Not
+merely once did he honor me, but again and again without pausing, as if
+he intended to fill me as full of bobolink rapture as he was himself.
+His voice was peculiarly rich and full, and, what amazed me, his first
+three notes were an exact reproduction of the wood-thrush's (though more
+rapidly sung), including the marvelous organ-like quality of that
+bird's voice. I could have listened forever.
+
+  "Oh, what have I to do with time?
+  For this the day was made."
+
+But when he had uttered his message he sank back into the grass, and I
+tore myself away from the bobolink meadow, and came home far richer and
+far happier than when I set out.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+THE BOBOLINK'S NEST.
+
+
+My acquaintance with the bobolink was resumed a year later in the lovely
+summer home of a friend in the Black River Country, within sight of the
+Adirondack hills. We had found many nests in the woods and orchards, but
+the meadow had been safe from our feet, partly because of the rich crops
+that covered it, but more, perhaps, because of the hopelessness of the
+search over the broad fields for anything so easily hidden as a ground
+nest.
+
+One evening, however, our host with a triumphant air invited us to walk,
+declaring that he could show us a nest more interesting than we had
+found.
+
+The gentleman was a joker, and his statements were apt to be somewhat
+embellished by his vivid imagination, so that we accepted them with
+caution; but now he looked exultant, and we believed him, especially as
+he took his hat and stick and started off.
+
+Down the road we went, a single carriage-way between two banks of grass
+a yard high. After carefully taking his bearings by certain small
+elm-trees, and searching diligently about for an inconspicuous dead twig
+he had planted as a guide-post, our leader confidently waded into the
+green depths, parted the stalks in a certain spot, and bade us look.
+
+We did. In a cosy cup, almost under our feet, were cuddled together
+three bird-babies.
+
+"Bobolinks?" we cried in a breath.
+
+"Yes, bobolinks," said our guide; "and you had to wait for an old
+half-blind man to find them for you."
+
+We were too much delighted to be annoyed by his teasing; a bobolink's
+nest we never hoped to see.
+
+Nor should we, but for a discovery of mine that very morning. Walking
+down that same road, I had noticed in the deep grass near the path a
+clump of exquisite wild flowers. They were of gorgeous coloring, shaded
+from deep orange to rich yellow, full petaled like an English daisy, and
+about the size of that flower, with the edge of every tiny petal cut in
+fairy-like fringe. I admired them for some minutes as they grew, and
+then gathered a handful to grace my room. As I came up to the house, my
+host stood on the steps; his eyes fell at once upon my nosegay, and a
+look of horror came into his face.
+
+My heart sank. Had I unwittingly picked some of his special treasures,
+some rare exotic which he had cultivated with care?
+
+"Where did you find that stuff?" he demanded. I was instantly relieved;
+no man will call a treasure "stuff."
+
+"In the meadow," I answered. "What is it?"
+
+"You must show me the exact spot," he said, emphatically. "I shall have
+a man out at once, to get it up, root and branch. It's the devil's
+paintbrush."
+
+"Then his majesty has good taste in color," I said.
+
+"That stuff," he went on, "spreads like wildfire. It'll eat up my meadow
+in a year."
+
+I turned back and showed him the spot from which my flowers had come,
+pointing out at the same time two or three other clumps I could see
+farther out in the waving green sea, and before long his farmer and he
+were very busy over them.
+
+Now it appeared that in tramping about the deep grass, where we
+bird-students dared not set our feet, he had nearly stepped on a
+bobolink, who flew, and thus pointed out her nest; and he had taken its
+bearings with the intention of putting us to shame.
+
+We looked long at the tiny trio so compactly packed in their cradle,
+till they awoke and demanded supplies. Then we carefully replanted the
+dead stick, taking its exact bearings between three trees, drew a few
+grass-stems together in a braid at the margin so that we should not lose
+what we had so accidentally gained, and then we left them.
+
+During this inspection of the nest, the "poet of the year" and his
+spouse were perched on two neighboring trees, utterly unmoved by our
+movements. They were, no doubt, so perfectly confident of the security
+of the hiding-place that it never occurred to them even to look to see
+what we three giants were doing. At least, such we judged were their
+sentiments by the change in their manners somewhat later, when they
+thought we were likely to make discoveries.
+
+The meadow itself had been our delight for weeks. When we arrived, in
+the beginning of June, it was covered with luxuriant clumps of blue
+violets, and great bunches of blue-eyed grass that one might gather by
+the handful at one picking. Later the higher parts were thickly
+sprinkled with white where
+
+    "Gracefully as does the fawn,
+  Sweet Marguerites their dainty heads uphold,"
+
+while the hollows were golden with buttercups. Then the grass under the
+warm June sun stretched up inch by inch till it was three or four feet
+high and very thick. Meanwhile a bobolink or two, and as many
+meadow-larks had taken possession of it, and it was made still richer
+by the sweet minor strains of the lark, and the song of the bird who,
+
+                   "like the soul
+  Of the sweet season vocal in a bird,
+  Gurgles in ecstasy we know not what."
+
+The evening after our humiliation--which we lost sight of in our joy--we
+returned to the charmed spot, parted again the sweet grass curtains and
+gazed down at the baby bobolinks, while the parents perched on two trees
+as before and paid not the smallest attention to us.
+
+We passed on down the road to the gate where we could look into a
+neighboring pasture and watch for a pair of red-headed woodpeckers who
+lived in that pleasant place, and catch the reflection of the sunset in
+the northern sky. While we lingered there, I looked with my glass back
+at the bobolinks, and chanced to see Bobby himself in the act of diving
+into the grass. When he came out he seemed to notice me, and instantly
+began trying to mislead me.
+
+He came up boldly, flew to another spot where a weed lifted its head
+above the green, and dropped into the grass exactly as though he was
+going to the nest; then he rose again, repeated his tactics, pausing
+every time he came out and calling, as if to say, "This is my home; if
+you're looking for a nest, here it is!" His air was so business-like
+that it would naturally deceive one not possessed of our precious
+secret, the real spot where his three babies were cradled, and one might
+easily be led all over the meadow by the wily fellow.
+
+For six successive days we paid our short visits, and found the
+nestlings safe. They did not seem to mature very fast, though they came
+to look up at us, and open their mouths for food. But on the seventh day
+there was a change in Master Robert's behavior. On the afternoon of this
+day, wishing to observe their habits more closely, I found a seat under
+a tree at some distance, not near enough, as I thought, to disturb them.
+
+I did disturb them sorely, however, as instantly appeared. The calmness
+they had shown during all the days we had been looking at the nest was
+gone, and they began to scold at once. The head of the family berated me
+from the top of a grass-stem, and then flew to a tall old stump, and put
+me under the closest surveillance, constantly uttering a queer call like
+"Chack-que-dle-la," jerking wings and tail, and in every way showing
+that he considered me intrusive and altogether too much interested in
+his family affairs. I admitted the charge, I could not deny it; but I
+did not retire.
+
+At last he apparently determined to insist upon my going, for he
+started from his high perch directly toward me. Swiftly and with all his
+force he flew, and about twenty feet from me swooped down so that I
+thought he would certainly strike my face. I instinctively dodged, and
+he passed over, so near that the wind from his wings fanned my face.
+This was a hint I could not refuse to take. I left him, for the time.
+
+That evening when we went for our usual call, lo! the nest was empty. At
+not more than seven or eight days of age, those precocious infants had
+started out in the world! That explained the conduct of the anxious papa
+in the afternoon, and I forgave him on the spot. I understood his fear
+that I should discover or step on his babies three, scattered and
+scrambling about under all that depth of grass. The abandoned homestead,
+which we carefully examined, proved to be merely a cup-shaped hollow in
+the ground, slightly protected by a thin lining.
+
+In a few days the wandering younglings were up in front of the house,
+where we could watch the parents drop into the grass with food; and
+where, of course, they were safe from anybody's intrusion. I had one
+more encounter with his lordship. After the young had been out a week or
+more, they seemed in their moving about to get back near to the old
+place. As I took my usual walk one evening, down the carriage drive to
+the gate, I found two pairs of bobolinks on one tree; the two mothers
+with food in their mouths, evidently intended for somebody down in the
+grass; and the two fathers, very much disturbed at my appearance. They
+greeted me with severe and reproving "chacks," and finally favored me
+with the most musical call I have heard from the sweet-voiced bird of
+the meadow. It was like "kee-lee!" in loud and rich tones, and it was
+many times repeated.
+
+I assured them that I had no wish to disturb their little ones; though,
+if I had been able to lift the whole grassy cover to peep at the two
+small families hidden there, I fear I should have yielded to the
+temptation.
+
+Our bird had been somewhat erratic in making his home far from his
+fellows,--so social are these birds even in nesting-time; but now he was
+joined by more of his kind from the meadows below, and to the beautiful
+waving carpet of green, dotted here and there with great bunches of
+black-eyed Susans and devil's paint-brushes (what names!), and sprinkled
+all over with daisies, now beginning to look a little disheveled and
+wild, was added the tantalizing interest of dozens of little folk
+running about under its shelter.
+
+The next week brought to the meadow what must seem from the bobolink
+point of view almost the end of the world. Men and horses and great
+rattling machines, armed with sharp knives, which laid low every stem of
+grass and flower, and let the light of the sun in upon the haunts and
+the nests of the bobolink babies.
+
+Happily, however, not all the earth is meadow and subject to this annual
+catastrophe; and I think the whole flock took refuge in a pasture where
+they were safe from the hay-cutters, and had for neighbors only the cows
+and the crow babies.
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+THE TANAGER'S NEST.
+
+
+One of the prettiest memory-pictures of my delightful June on the banks
+of the Black River is the nest of a scarlet tanager, placed as the
+keystone of one of Nature's exquisite living arches. The path which led
+to it was almost as charming as the nest itself. Lifting a low-hanging
+branch of maple at the entrance to the woods, we took leave of the world
+and all its affairs, and stepped at once into a secluded path. Though so
+near the house, the woods were solitary, for they were private and very
+carefully protected. Passing up the rustic foot-path, under interlacing
+boughs of maple and beech, we came at length to a sunny open spot, where
+all winter grain is kept for partridges, squirrels, and other pensioners
+who may choose to come. From this little opening one road turned to the
+wild-berry field, where lived the cuckoo and the warblers; another
+opened an inviting way into the deep woods; a third went through the
+fernery. We took that, and passed on through a second lovely bit of
+wood, where the ground was wet, and ferns of many kinds grew
+luxuriantly, and the walk was mostly over a dainty corduroy of minute
+moss-covered logs.
+
+At the end of the fernery are two ways. The first runs along the edge of
+the forest, whose outlying saplings hang over and make a cool covered
+walk. Down this path I almost had an adventure one day. The morning was
+warm and I was alone. As I came out of this covered passage, beside an
+old stump, I noticed in a depression in the ground at my feet a
+squirming mass of fur. On looking closer I saw four or five little
+beasts rolling and scrambling over each other. They were as big,
+perhaps, as a month-old kitten, but they were a good deal more knowing
+than pussy's babies, for as I drew near they stopped their play and
+waited to see what would happen. I looked at them with eager interest.
+They were really beautiful; black and white in stripes, with long bushy
+tails. Black and white, and so self-possessed!--a thought struck me.
+"Mephitis," I gasped, and instantly put several feet more between us. So
+attractive and playful were they, however, that notwithstanding I feared
+it might be hard to convince their mamma, should she appear, of my
+amiable intentions, I could not resist another look. Calm as a summer
+morning walked off one of the mephitis babies, holding his pretty tail
+straight up like a kitten's, while the other four went on with their
+frolic in the grass. At this moment I heard a rustle in the dead leaves,
+and having no desire to meet their grown-up relatives, I left in so
+great haste that I took the wrong path, and finally lost myself for a
+time in a tangle of wild raspberry bushes, whose long arms reached out
+on every side to scratch the face and hands or catch the dress of the
+unwary passer-by.
+
+The other of the two ways spoken of was a road, soft-carpeted with dead
+leaves. To reach the tanager's nest we took that, and came, a little
+further on, to a big log half covered with growing fungi and laid
+squarely across the passage. This was the fungus log, another landmark
+for the wanderer unfamiliar with these winding ways. On this, if I were
+alone, I always rested awhile to get completely into the woods spirit,
+for this is the heart of the woods, with nothing to be seen on any side
+but trees. Cheerful, pleasant woods they are, of sunny beech, birch,
+maple, and butternut, with branches high above our heads, and a far
+outlook under the trees in every direction. There is no gloom such as
+evergreens make; no barricade of dark impenetrable foliage, behind which
+might lurk anything one chose to imagine, from a grizzly bear to an
+equally unwelcome tramp.
+
+In this lovely spot come together four roads and a path, and to the
+pilgrim from cities they seem like paths into paradise. That on the
+right leads by a roundabout way to the "corner," where one may see the
+sunset. The next, straight in front, is the passage to the nest of the
+winter wren. The far left invites one to a wild tangle of fallen trees
+and undergrowth, where veeries sing, and enchanting but maddening
+warblers lure the bird-lover on, to scramble over logs, wade into
+swamps, push through chaotic masses of branches, and, while using both
+hands to make her way, incidentally offer herself a victim to the
+thirsty inhabitants whose stronghold it is. All this in a vain search
+for some atom of a bird that doubtless sits through the whole, calmly
+perched on the topmost twig of the tallest tree, shielded by a leaf, and
+pours out the tantalizing trill that draws one like a magnet.
+
+Between this road and the wren's highway a path runs upward. It is
+narrow, and guarded at the opening by a mossy log to be stepped over,
+but it is most alluring. Up that route we go. On the left as we pass we
+notice two beautiful nests in saplings, so low that we can look in;
+redstarts both, and nearly always we find madam at home. We pass on,
+step over a second mossy log, pause a moment to glance at a vireo's
+hanging cradle on the right, and arrive at length at a crossing road,
+on the other side of which our path goes on, with a pile of logs like a
+stile to go over. Over the logs we step, walk a rod or two further, stop
+beside the blackened trunk of a fallen tree, turn our faces to the left,
+and behold the nest.
+
+Before us is one of nature's arches. A maple sapling, perhaps fifteen
+feet high, has in some way been bowed till its top touched the ground
+and became fastened there, a thing often seen in these woods. Thus
+diverted from its original destiny of growing into a tree, it has kept
+its "sweetness and light," sent out leaves and twigs through all its
+length, and become one of the most beautiful things in the woods--a
+living arch. Just in the middle of this exquisite bow, five feet above
+the ground, is the tanager's nest, well shielded by leaves. We never
+should have found it if the little fellow in scarlet had not made so
+much objection to our going up this particular passage that we suspected
+him of having a secret in this quarter. He went ahead of us from tree to
+tree, keeping an eye on us, and calling, warily, "chip-chur!" When we
+sat down a few moments to see what all the fuss was about, we saw his
+spouse in her modest dress of olive green on a low branch. She, too,
+uttered the cry "chip-chur!" and seemed disturbed by our call. Looking
+around for the object of their solicitude, our eyes fell at the same
+instant on the nest. We dared not speak, but an ecstatic glance from my
+comrade, with a hand laid on her heart to indicate her emotions,
+announced that our hopes were fulfilled; it was the nest we were
+seeking.
+
+The birds, seeing that we meant to stay, flew away after a while, and we
+hastened to secrete ourselves before they should return, by placing our
+camp-stools in a thick growth of saplings just higher than our heads. We
+crowned ourselves with fresh leaves, not as conquerors, though such we
+felt ourselves, but as a disguise to hide our heads. We daubed our faces
+here and there with an odorous (not to say odious) preparation warranted
+to discourage too great familiarity on the part of the residents already
+established in that spot. We subsided into silence.
+
+The birds returned, but were still wary. As before, the male perched
+high and kept a sharp eye out on the country around, and I have no doubt
+soon espied us in our retreat. Madam again tried to "screw her courage
+up" to visit that nest. Nearer and nearer she came, pausing at every
+step, looking around and calling to her mate to make sure he was near.
+At last, just as she seemed about to take the last step and go in, and
+we were waiting breathless for her to do it, a terrific sound broke the
+silence. The big dog, protector and constant companion of my
+fellow-student, overcome by the torment of mosquitoes, and having no
+curiosity about tanagers to make him endure them, had yielded to his
+emotions and sneezed. Away went the tanager family, and, laughing at the
+absurd accident, away we went too, happy at having discovered the nest,
+and planning to come the next day. We came next day, and many days
+thereafter, but never again did we see the birds near. They abandoned
+the nest, doubtless feeling that they had been driven away by a
+convulsion of nature.
+
+One day, somewhat later, in the winter wren's quarter, where there were
+pools left by a heavy rain, we met them again. Madam was bathing, and
+her husband accompanied her as guard and protector. They flew away
+together. All of June we heard him sing, and we often followed him, but
+never again did we surprise a secret of his, till the very last day of
+the month. We had been making a visit to our veery nests, and on our way
+back noticed that the tanager was more than usually interested in our
+doings. He seemed very busy too, with the air of a person of family.
+While we were watching to see what it meant, he caught a flying insect
+and held it in his mouth. Then we knew he had little folk to feed, so
+we seated ourselves on the fungus log, and waited for him to point one
+out. He did. He could not resist giving that delicate morsel to his
+first-born. With many wary approaches, he dropped at last into the
+scanty undergrowth, and there, a foot above the ground, we saw the young
+tanager. He was a little dumpling of a fellow, with no hint in his
+baby-suit of the glory that shall clothe him by and by. But where was
+the mother? and where had they nested? But for that untimely sneeze, as
+I shall always believe, they would have made their home in that
+beautiful nest on the arch, and we should have been there to see.
+
+
+
+
+XVII.
+
+THE WILES OF A WARBLER.
+
+  "Hark to that petulant chirp! What ails the warbler?
+  Mark his capricious ways to draw the eye."
+
+
+We called him the blue, but that was not his whole name by any means.
+Fancy a scientist with a new bird to label, contenting himself with one
+word! His whole name is--or was till lately--black-throated blue-backed
+warbler, or _Dendroica coerulescens_, and that being fairly set down
+for future reference for whom it may concern, I shall call him
+henceforth, as we did in the woods, the blue.
+
+For a day or two at first he was to us, like many another of his size,
+only a "wandering voice." But it was an enticing voice, a sweet-toned
+succession of _z-z-z_ in ascending scale, and it was so persistent that
+when we really made the attempt, we had no trouble in getting sight of
+the little beauty hardly bigger than one's thumb. He was a wary little
+sprite, and though he looked down upon us as we turned opera-glasses
+toward him,--a battery that puts some birds into a panic,--he was not
+alarmed. He probably made up his mind then and there, that it should be
+his special business to keep us away from his nest, for really that
+seemed to be his occupation. No sooner did we set foot in the woods than
+his sweet song attracted us. We followed it, and he, carelessly as it
+seemed, but surely, led us on around and around, always in a circle
+without end.
+
+My fellow bird-student became fairly bewitched, and could not rest till
+she found his nest. For my part I gave up the warbler family long ago,
+as too small, too uneasy, too fond of tree-tops, to waste time and
+patience over. In these her native woods, my comrade led in our walks,
+and the moment we heard his tantalizing _z-z-z_ she turned irresistibly
+toward it. I followed, of course, happy to be anywhere under these
+trees.
+
+One morning she tracked him inch by inch till she was fortunate enough
+to trace him to a wild corner in the woods given up to a tangle of
+fallen trees, saplings, and other growth. She went home happy, sure she
+was on the trail. The next day we turned our steps to that quarter and
+penetrated the jungle till we reached a moderately clear spot facing an
+impenetrable mass of low saplings. There we took our places, to wait
+with what patience we might for the blue.
+
+Our lucky star was in the ascendant that day, for we had not been there
+three minutes before a small, inconspicuous bird dropped into the bushes
+a few feet from us. My friend's eye followed her, and in a second fell
+upon the nest the little creature was lining, in a low maple about two
+feet from the ground.
+
+But who was she? For it is one of the difficulties about nests, that the
+brightly-colored male, whom one knows so well, is very sure not to show
+himself in the neighborhood, and his spouse is certain to look just like
+everybody else. However, there is always some mark by which we may know,
+and as soon as the watcher secured a good look she announced in an
+excited whisper, "We have it! a female blue, building."
+
+So it proved to be, and we planted our seats against trees for backs,
+and arranged ourselves to stay. The dog seeing this preparation, and
+recognizing it as somewhat permanent, with a heavy sigh laid himself out
+full length, and composed himself to sleep.
+
+The work over that nest was one of the prettiest bits of bird-life I
+ever watched. Never was a scrap of a warbler, a mere pinch of feathers,
+so perfectly delighted with anything as she with that dear little
+homestead of hers. It was pretty; it looked outside like the dainty
+hanging cradle of a vireo, but instead of being suspended from a
+horizontal forked twig, it was held in an upright fork made by four
+twigs of the sapling.
+
+The little creature's body seemed too small to hold her joy; she simply
+could not bring her mind to leave it. She rushed off a short distance
+and brought some infinitesimal atom of something not visible to our
+coarse sight, but very important in hers. This she arranged carefully,
+then slipped into the nest and moulded it into place by pressing her
+breast against it and turning around.
+
+Thus she worked for some time, and then seemed to feel that her task was
+over, at least for the moment. Yet she could not tear herself away. She
+flew six inches away, then instantly came back and got into the nest,
+trying it this way and that. Then she ran up a stem, and in a moment
+down again, trying that nest in a new way, from a fresh point of view.
+This performance went on a long time, and we found it as impossible to
+leave as she did; we were as completely charmed with her ingenuous and
+bewitching manners as she was with her new home.
+
+Well indeed was it that we stayed that morning and enriched ourselves
+with the beautiful picture of bird ways, for like many another fair
+promise of the summer it came to naught.
+
+We had not startled her, she had not observed us at all, nor been in the
+least degree hindered in her work by our silent presence, twenty feet
+away and half hidden by her leafy screen. But the next day she was not
+there. After we had waited half an hour, my friend could no longer
+resist a siren voice that had lured us for days (and was never traced
+home, by the way). I offered to wait for the little blue while she
+sought her charmer.
+
+We were near the edge of the woods, and she was obliged to pass through
+part of a pasture where sheep were kept. Her one terror about her big
+dog was that he should take to making himself disagreeable among sheep,
+when she knew his days would be numbered, so she told him to stay with
+me. He had risen when she started, and he looked a little dubious, but
+sat down again, and she went away.
+
+He watched her so long as she could be seen and then turned to me for
+comfort. He came close and laid his big head on my lap to be petted. I
+patted his head and praised him a while, and then wished to be relieved.
+But flattery was sweet to his ears, and the touch of a hand to his
+brow,--he declined to be put away; on the contrary he demanded constant
+repetition of the agreeable sensations. If I stopped, he laid his heavy
+head across my arm, in a way most uncomfortable to one not accustomed to
+dogs. These methods not availing, he sat up close beside me, when he
+came nearly to my shoulder and leaned heavily against me, his head
+resting against my arm in a most sentimental attitude.
+
+At last finding that I would not be coaxed or forced into devoting
+myself wholly to his entertainment, he rose with dignity, and walked off
+in the direction his mistress had gone, paying no more attention to my
+commands or my coaxings than if I did not exist. If I would not do what
+he wished, and pay the price of his society, he would not do what I
+asked. I was, therefore, left alone.
+
+I was perfectly quiet. My dress was a dull woods tint, carefully
+selected to be inconspicuous, and I was motionless. No little dame
+appeared, but I soon became aware of the pleasing sound of the blue
+himself. It drew nearer, and suddenly ceased. Cautiously, without
+moving, I looked up. My eyes fell upon the little beauty peering down
+upon me. I scarcely breathed while he came nearer, at last directly over
+my head, silent, and plainly studying me. I shall always think his
+conclusion was unfavorable, that he decided I was dangerous; and I, who
+never lay a finger on an egg or a nest in use, had to suffer for the
+depredations of the race to which I belong. The pretty nest so doted
+upon by its little builder was never occupied, and the winsome song of
+the warbler came from another part of the wood.
+
+We found him, indeed, so often near this particular place, a worse
+tangle, if possible, than the other, that we suspected they had set up
+their household gods here. Many times did my friend and her dog work
+their way through it, while I waited outside, and considered the
+admirable tactics of the wary warbler. The search was without result.
+
+Weeks passed, but though other birds interested us, and filled our days
+with pleasure, my comrade never ceased longing to find the elusive nest
+of that blue warbler, and our revenge came at last. Nests may be
+deserted, little brown spouses may be hidden under green leaves,
+homesteads may be so cunningly placed that one cannot find them, but
+baby birds cannot be concealed. They will speak for themselves; they
+will get out of the nest before they can fly; they will scramble about,
+careless of being seen; and such is the devotion of parents that they
+must and will follow all these vagaries, and thus give their precious
+secret to whoever has eyes to see.
+
+One day I came alone into the woods, and as I reached a certain place,
+sauntering along in perfect silence, I evidently surprised somebody, for
+I was saluted by low "smacks" and I caught glimpses of two birds who
+dived into the jewel-weed and disappeared. A moment later I saw the
+blue take flight a little farther off, and soon his song burst out, calm
+and sweet as though he had never been surprised in his life.
+
+I walked slowly on up the road, for this was one of the most enchanting
+spots in the woods, to birds as well as to bird-lovers. Here the cuckoo
+hid her brood till they could fly. In this retired corner the tawny
+thrush built her nest, and the hermit filled its aisles with music,
+while on the trespass notices hung here, the yellow-bellied woodpecker
+drummed and signaled. It was filled with interest and with pleasant
+memories, and I lingered here for some time.
+
+Then as the road led me still farther away, I turned back. Coming
+quietly, again I surprised the blue family and was greeted in the same
+manner as before. They had slipped back in silence during my absence,
+and the young blues were, doubtless, at that moment running about under
+the weeds.
+
+Thus we found our warbler, the head of a family, hard at work as any
+sparrow, feeding a beloved, but somewhat scraggy looking, youngster, the
+feeble likeness of himself. There, too, we found the little brown mamma,
+the same, as we suppose, whose nest-building we had watched with so much
+interest. She also had a youngster under her charge. But how was this!
+a brown baby clad like herself! Could it be that the sons and daughters
+of this warbler family outrage all precedent by wearing their grown-up
+dress in the cradle? We consulted the authorities and found our
+conclusion was correct.
+
+Henceforth we watched with greater interest than before. Every day that
+we came into the woods we saw the little party of four, always near
+together, scrambling about under the saplings or among the jewel-weed,
+or running over the tangled branches of a fallen tree, the two younger
+calling in sharp little voices for food, and the elders bustling about
+on low trees to find it.
+
+We soon noticed that there was favoritism in the family. Papa fed only
+the little man, while mamma fed the little maid, though she too
+sometimes stuffed a morsel into the mouth of her son. Let us hope that
+by this arrangement both babies are equally fed, and not, as is often
+the case, the most greedy secures the greatest amount.
+
+We had now reached the last of July, and the woods were full of new
+voices, not alone the peeps or chirps of birdlings impatient for food.
+There were baffling rustles of leaves in the tree-tops, rebounds of
+twigs as some small form left them, flits of strange-colored
+wings,--migration had begun. Now, if the bird-student wishes not to go
+mad with problems she cannot solve, she will be wise to fold her
+camp-stool and return to the haunts of the squawking English sparrow and
+the tireless canary, the loud-voiced parrot, and the sleep-destroying
+mockingbird. I did.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII.
+
+A RAINY-DAY TRAMP.
+
+
+Before I opened my eyes in the morning I knew something had happened,
+for I missed the usual charm of dawn. A robin, to be sure, made an
+effort to lead, as was his custom, and sang out bravely once or twice; a
+song sparrow, too, flitted into the evergreen beside my window, and
+uttered his sweet and cheery little greeting to whom it might concern.
+But those were the only ones out of the fourteen voices we were
+accustomed to hear in the morning.
+
+When I came out on the veranda not a note was to be heard and not a bird
+to be seen excepting a woodpecker, who bounded gayly up the trunk of a
+maple, as if sunshine were not essential to happiness, and a
+chipping-sparrow, who went about through the dripping grass with perfect
+indifference to weather, squabbling with his fellow-chippies, and
+picking up his breakfast as usual.
+
+I seated myself in the big rocker, and turned toward the woods, a few
+rods away. The rain, which had fallen heavily for hours, light and fine
+now, drew a shimmering veil before the trees,--a veil like a Japanese
+bead-hanging, which hides nothing, only the rain veil was more
+diaphanous than anything fashioned by human hands. It did not conceal,
+but enhanced the charm of everything behind it, lending a glamour that
+turned the woods into enchanted land.
+
+Before the house how the prospect was changed! The hills and Adirondack
+woods in the distance were cut sharply off, and our little world stood
+alone, closed in by heavy walls of mist.
+
+My glass transported me to the edge of the side lawn, where I looked far
+under the trees, and rejoiced in the joy of the woods in rain. The trees
+were still, as if in ecstasy "too deep for smiling;" the ferns gently
+waved and nodded. Every tiny leaf that had thrust its head up through
+the mould, ambitious to be an ash or a maple or a fern, straightened
+itself with fullness of fresh life. The woods were never so fascinating,
+nor showed so plainly
+
+  "The immortal gladness of inanimate things."
+
+A summer shower the birds, and we, have reason to expect, and even to
+enjoy, but a downpour of several hours, a storm that lays the deep grass
+flat, beats down branches, and turns every hollow into a lake, was more
+than they had provided for, I fear. My heart went out to the dozens of
+bobolink and song-sparrow babies buried under the matted grass, the
+little tawny thrushes wandering around cold and comfortless on the
+soaked ground in the woods, the warbler infants,--redstart and
+chestnut-sided--that I knew were sitting humped up and miserable in some
+watery place under the berry bushes, the young tanager only just out of
+the nest, and the two cuckoo babies, thrust out of their home at the
+untimely age of seven days, to shiver around on their weak blue legs.
+
+My only comfort was in thinking of woodpecker little folk, the
+yellow-bellied family whose loud and insistent baby cries we had
+listened to for days, the downy and hairy, and the golden-wing. They
+were all warm and snug, if they could only be persuaded to stay at home.
+But from what I have seen of young birds, when their hour strikes they
+go, be it fair or foul. To take the bitter with the sweet is their fate,
+and no rain, however driving, no wind, however rough, can detain them an
+hour when they feel the call of the inner voice which bids them go. I
+have seen many birdlings start out in weather that from our point of
+view should make the feathered folk, old or young, hug the nest or any
+shelter they can find.
+
+In the afternoon the rain had ceased, and we went out. How beautiful we
+found the woods! More than ever I despair of
+
+  "Putting my woods in song."
+
+Every fresh condition of light brings out new features. They are not the
+same in the morning and the afternoon; sunshine makes them very
+different from a gray sky; and heavy rain, which hangs still in drops
+from every leaf and twig, changes them still more.
+
+This time the tree-trunks were the most noticeable feature. Thoreau
+speaks of rain waking the lichens into life, and we saw this as never
+before. Not only does it bring out the colors and give a brightness and
+richness they show at no other time, but it raises the leaves--if one
+may so call them--makes them stand out fresh. The beeches were marvelous
+with many shades of green, and of pink, from a delicate blush over the
+whole tree, to bright vermilion in small patches. The birches, "most shy
+and ladylike of trees," were intensely yellow; some lovely with dabs of
+green, while others looked like rugged old heroes of many battles, with
+great patches of black, and ragged ends of loosened bark fringing them
+like an Indian's war dress, up to the branches. Every hollow under the
+trees had become a clear pond to reflect these beauties, and lively
+little brooks rippled across the path, adding to the woods the only
+thing they lacked,--running water.
+
+Instinctively our feet turned up the path to the oven-bird's nest, so
+narrow that we brushed a shower from every bush. There he was, singing
+at that moment. "Teacher! teacher! teacher!" he called, with head thrown
+up and wings drooped. And then while we looked he left his perch, and
+passed up between the branches out of our sight, his sweet ecstatic
+love-song floating down to delight our souls.
+
+Surely, we thought, all must be well in the cabin among the dead leaves,
+or he could not sing so. Yet life had not been all rose-colored to the
+little dame whom we had surprised several days before, bringing great
+pieces of what appeared to be lace, to line the nest she had made so
+wonderfully. We had watched her, breathless, for a long time, while she
+went back and forth carrying in old leaves, softened, bleached, and
+turned to lace by long exposure, arranged each one carefully and moulded
+it to place by pressing her breast against it, and turning round and
+round in the nest. Curious enough she looked as she alighted at some
+distance, and walked--not hopped--to her little "oven," holding the
+almost skeletonized leaf before her like an apron, so busy that she did
+not observe that she had visitors.
+
+Then came a day when, on reaching our usual place, we found that an
+accident had happened. The dainty roof was crushed in, and the poor
+little egg, for which such loving preparations had been made, lay
+pathetically on the ground outside the door. My comrade crept carefully
+up, raised the tiny roof to place, and with deft fingers put a twig
+under as a prop to hold it, then gently laid the pretty egg in the
+lace-lined nest.
+
+The next day we hurried out to see if the bird had resented our clumsy
+human help. But no; like the wise little creature she was, she had
+accepted the goods the gods had provided, and laid a second pearl beside
+the first. On our next visit, therefore--especially when we heard the
+gleeful song of her (supposed) mate--we came up with confidence to see
+our little oven-bird homestead. But, alas! somebody not so loving as we
+had been there; the two pretty eggs were gone, not a sign of them to be
+seen, and the nest was deserted. Yet we could not give up a hope that
+she would return, and day after day our steps turned of themselves to
+the oven-bird's nook. This rainy day, as a dozen times before, we found
+the little house still empty, and as before we turned sadly away, when
+suddenly a new sound broke the stillness. "Wuk! wuk! wuk! wa-a-a-ah!
+wa-a-a-ah!" it cried. It was the exact tone of a young baby, a naive
+and innocent cry. What could it be? Was some tramp mother hidden behind
+the bushes? Was it a new bird with this unbird-like cry? I was startled.
+But my friend was smiling at my dismay. She pointed to the crotch of a
+tree, and there a saucy gray squirrel lay sprawled out flat, uttering
+his sentiments in this abominable parody on the human baby cry. I
+believe the first squirrel learned it from some deserted infant, and
+handed it down as a choice joke upon us all. At any rate this performer
+was not suffering as his tones would indicate; for seeing that he had an
+audience more interested than he desired, he pulled himself together,
+whisked his bushy tail in our faces, and disappeared behind the trunk,
+from whence, in one instant, his head was thrust on one side and his
+tail on the other. And so he remained as long as we were in sight.
+
+This absurd episode changed our mood, and soon we tramped gayly back
+over the soft leaf-covered paths, fording the newly formed brooks,
+shaking showers upon ourselves from the saplings, and arriving at last,
+dripping but happy, on the veranda, where, after donning drier costumes,
+we spent the rest of the day watching the birds that came to the trees
+on the lawn.
+
+
+
+
+XIX.
+
+THE VAGARIES OF A WARBLER.
+
+
+The bird lover who carries a glass but never a gun, who observes but
+never shoots, sees many queer things not set down in the books; freaks
+and notions and curious fancies on the part of the feathered folk, which
+reveal an individuality of character as marked in a three-inch warbler
+as in a six-foot man. Some of the idiosyncrasies of our "little
+brothers" may be understood and explained from the human standpoint,
+others are as baffling as "the lady, or the tiger?"
+
+One lovely and lazy day last July--the fourth it was--a perfect day with
+not a cannon nor even a cracker to disturb its peace, my comrade and I
+turned our steps toward the woods, as we had for the thirty-and-three
+mornings preceding that one.
+
+This morning, however, was distinguished by the fact that we had a
+special object. In general, our passage through the woods was an
+open-eyed (and open-minded) loitering walk, alternated with periods of
+rest on our camp-stools, wherever we found anything of interest to
+detain us.
+
+On this Fourth of July we were in search of a warbler,--one of the most
+tantalizing, maddening pursuits a sensible human being can engage in.
+Fancy the difficulty of dragging one's self, not to mention the flying
+gown, camp-stool, opera-glass, note-book and other impedimenta through
+brush and brier, over logs, under fallen trees, in the swamp and through
+the tangle, to follow the eccentric movements of a scrap of a bird the
+size of one's finger, who proceeds by wings and not by feet, who goes
+over and not through all this growth.
+
+The corner to which we had traced our "black-throated blue," and where
+we suspected he had a nest, presented a little worse than the usual
+snarl of saplings and fallen branches and other hindrances, and the
+morning was warm. My heart failed me; and as my leader turned from the
+path I deserted. "You go in, if you like," I said; "I'll wait for you
+here."
+
+I seated myself, and she went on. For a few minutes I heard the cracking
+of twigs, the rustle of her movements against the bushes, the heavy
+tread of her big dog, and then all was silent.
+
+It was--did I say it was a fair morning?--not a breath of air was
+stirring. My seat was in a rather open spot at the foot of a big
+butternut tree; and I could look far up where its branches spread out
+wide and held their graceful leafy stars against the blue.
+
+In the woods I am never lonely; but I was not this morning alone. Near
+by a vireo kept up his tireless song; a gray squirrel peeped curiously
+at me from behind a trunk, his head showing on one side and his tail on
+the other; an oven-bird stole up behind to see what manner of creature
+this was, and far off I could hear the tanager singing.
+
+I did not notice the time; but after a while I became conscious of a low
+whistle which seemed to mingle with my reveries, and might have been
+going on for some minutes. Suddenly it struck me that it was the call of
+my fellow-student, and I started up the road wondering lazily if she had
+found the nest, and, to tell the truth, not caring much whether she had
+or not. For, to tell the whole truth, I had long ago steeled my heart
+against the fascinations of those bewitching little sprites who never
+stay two seconds in one spot, and sternly resolved never, _never_ to get
+interested in a warbler.
+
+My companion, however, was not so philosophical or so cool. She never
+could withstand the flit of a warbler wing; she would follow for half a
+day the absurd but enchanting little trill; and she regularly went mad
+(so to speak) at every migration, over the hundred or two, more or
+less, varieties that made this wood a resting-place on their way. Now, I
+could resist the birds by never looking at them, but I could not resist
+my friend's enthusiasm; so when she started on a warbler trail, I
+generally followed, as a matter of course. And I admit that the blue, to
+which we shortened his name, was a beauty and a charming singer.
+
+I passed quietly up the road toward the continued low calls, and soon
+saw the student, not far from the path, in a clearer spot than usual,
+sitting against a maple sapling, with her four-footed protector at her
+feet. When I came in sight she beckoned eagerly but silently, and I knew
+she had found something; probably the nest, I thought. As quietly as
+might be under the circumstances (namely, a passage through dead leaves,
+brittle twigs, unexpected hollows, etc.), I crept to her side, planted
+my camp-stool near hers, and sat down, in obedience to her imperious
+gesture.
+
+"Now look," she whispered, pointing to a nest in plain sight.
+
+"Why that's the redstart nest we saw yesterday from the road," I
+answered in the same tone, somewhat disappointed, it must be said, for
+redstart nests were on about every third sapling in the woods.
+
+"Yes; but see what's going on," she added, excitedly.
+
+"I see," I replied; "there is a young bird on the edge of the nest and
+its mother is feeding it;" and I was about to lower my glass and ask
+what there was surprising about that, when she went on:--
+
+"Keep looking! There! Who's that?"
+
+"Why that's--why--that's a chestnut-sided warbler! and--what?--he feeds
+the same baby!" I gasped, interested now as much as she.
+
+"There!" she exclaimed, triumphantly, "I wanted you to see that with
+your own eyes, since you scorn to look at the warblers. He has been
+doing that ever since I left you. I couldn't bear to let him out of my
+sight!"
+
+At that moment the warbler appeared again, and the wise redstart baby,
+who at least knew enough to take a good thing when it offered, opened
+his ever-ready mouth for the bit of a worm he brought.
+
+But lo! Madam, who had flown the moment before, returned in hot haste,
+and flung herself upon that small philanthropist as if he had brought
+poison; he vanished.
+
+Here was indeed a queer complication! It was a redstart nest without
+doubt, but who owned the baby? If he were a redstart, why did Mamma
+refuse help in her hard work, and why did the chestnut-sided insist on
+helping? If he were a chestnut-sided infant, how did he come in a
+redstart nest, and what had the redstart to do with him?
+
+These were the problems with which we had to grapple, and we settled
+ourselves to the work. We placed our seats against neighboring saplings,
+for backs, and we first critically examined that nest. It was surely a
+redstart's, though at an unusual height, perhaps twenty-five feet, as we
+had observed the day before when we had both noted in our books that we
+saw the male feeding the young. Even had the nest not been so plainly a
+redstart's, the air of that mother was unmistakable. She owned that nest
+and that baby, there could not be a doubt, and the dapper little
+personage with chestnut sides was an interloper.
+
+Nearly two hours we watched every movement of the small actors in this
+strange drama, and in seeking food they often came within six feet of us
+on our own level, so that we could not mistake their identity.
+
+The poor little mamma was in deep distress. Although her mate was
+absent, she resented her neighbor's efforts to help in her work, and
+dashed at him furiously every time she saw him come. Yet she could not
+stay on guard, for upon her alone devolved the duty of feeding that
+nestling! So she rushed frantically hither and thither in mad redstart
+fashion, brought her morsel and administered it, and then darted angrily
+after the enemy, who appeared as often as she did, every time with a
+tidbit for that pampered youngster.
+
+This double duty seemed almost too much for the redstart. Her feathers
+were ruffled, her tail opened and shut nervously, and at every interval
+that she could spare from her breathless exertions she uttered in low
+tones the redstart song, as though calling on that missing lord of hers.
+
+And where was that much needed personage? Had he been killed in these
+carefully protected and fenced woods, where no guns or collectors were
+allowed, and trespass notices were as plentiful as blackberries? Not by
+shooting we were sure; we should have heard a gun at the house. Had,
+then, an owl paid a twilight visit, and could a redstart be surprised?
+Or could, perchance, a squirrel have stolen upon him unaware? We shall
+never know. There's no morning paper to chronicle the tragedies in the
+bird world; and it would be too pitiful reading if there were.
+
+The most curious thing about the whole performance was the behavior of
+the chestnut-sided. His manner was as unruffled as Madam's was excited.
+The most just and honorable cause in the world could not give more
+absolute self-possession, more dignified persistence, than was shown by
+this wonderful atom of a bird. He acknowledged her right to reprove him,
+for he vanished before her outraged motherhood every time; but the
+moment the chase ended he fell to collecting food, and by the time his
+assailant had given her bantling a morsel, he was ready with another.
+
+What could be his motive? Was he a charity-mad personage, such as we
+sometimes see among bigger folk, determined to benefit his kind, whether
+they would or no? Had he, perchance, been bereaved of his own
+younglings, and felt moved to bestow his parental care upon somebody?
+Did he wish to experiment with some theory of his own on another's baby?
+Was it his aim to coax that young redstart to desert his family and
+follow after the traditions of the chestnut-sided?
+
+Alas! how easy to ask; how hard to answer!
+
+By this time I had become as absorbed in the drama as my companion. We
+forgot, or postponed, the blue, and gave the day to study of this case
+of domestic infelicity. Five long hours we sat there (morning and
+afternoon) before the stage on which the interesting but agitating play
+went on; and after tea, just before dark, we came out again. All this
+time the war between the two still raged, with no abatement of spirit.
+
+Breakfast was not loitered over on the following morning, and we hurried
+out to our post. The situation was changed a little. The youngster had
+made up his mind to go out into the world. He had moved as far as the
+branch, a few inches from the nest, and was still fed on both sides by
+his zealous providers. Mamma, however, though every time repelling her
+unwelcome assistant, was not so nervous. Perhaps she realized that a few
+hours more would end the trouble. She fed, she encouraged, and pretty
+soon, while we looked, the infant flew to the nearest tree.
+
+Now the chestnut-sided began to have difficulty in following up his
+self-imposed charge. He took to coming close upon the mother's heels to
+see where she went. But this course was attended with the difficulty
+that the instant she had fed she was ready to turn upon him, which she
+never failed to do.
+
+After several short flights about the tree, the young bird, grown
+bolder, perhaps by over-feeding, for surely never nestling was stuffed
+as that one was, attempted a more ambitious flight, failed, and came
+fluttering to the ground, much to the dismay of his mamma, who followed
+him closely all the way.
+
+This was our opportunity, the moment we had waited for; we must see that
+disputed baby!
+
+My comrade dropped everything and ran to the spot. A moment's scrambling
+about on the ground, a few careful "grabs" among the dead leaves, and
+she held the exhausted little fellow in her hand. He was not frightened;
+but his mother was greatly disturbed at first. We were too interested in
+this case to heed her, and indeed after a moment's demonstration she
+flew away and left him in our hands.
+
+We examined him minutely, and I noted his markings on the spot. There
+was no doubt about his being a redstart baby, as I had been convinced
+from the first. When we had settled this, the little one was placed on a
+branch, where he remained quite calmly, and we left him to his two
+attendants.
+
+The next morning we found the mother still hard at work in the same part
+of the woods (we knew her by some feathers she had lost from her
+breast), but the gallant little warbler was nowhere to be seen.
+
+
+
+
+XX.
+
+A CLEVER CUCKOO.
+
+        "Hark, the cuckoo, weatherwise,
+  Still hiding, farther onward woos you."
+
+
+The mysterious bird, around whose name cluster some strange facts as
+well as absurd fancies; shy and intolerant of the human race, yet bold
+in protecting his treasures; devoted and tender in his family relations,
+yet often known in the neighborhood where he passes his days as a mere
+"wandering voice,"--
+
+  "No bird, but an invisible thing,
+  A voice, a mystery,"--
+
+this bird, the cuckoo, was a stranger to me till one happy day last
+June, when I came upon him where he could not escape, beside his own
+nest.
+
+In returning from our daily visit to the woods that morning, my
+fellow-student turned down a narrow footway connecting the woods with
+the home-fields, and I followed. She had passed through half its length,
+her dog close behind her, when our eyes, ever searching the trees and
+bushes, fell almost at the same instant upon a nest, with the sitting
+bird at home. It was so near me that I could have touched it, being not
+more than two feet from the ground, and hardly farther from the path.
+
+Fearing to startle the little mother, whose frightened eyes were fixed
+upon us, we announced our mutual discovery by a single movement of the
+hand, and walked quietly past without pausing. Not until we reached the
+open fields at the end did my comrade whisper, "a cuckoo," and our
+hearts, if not our lips, sang with Wordsworth, "Thrice welcome, darling
+of the spring," for the nest of this shy bird we hardly dared hope to
+see.
+
+After the morning of our happy discovery the cuckoo path became part of
+our regular route home from the woods. Our first care was to dispel the
+fears of the bird, and accustom her to seeing us, so for several days we
+passed her without pausing, though we looked at her and spoke to her in
+low tones as we went by.
+
+Three times she flew at sight of us, but on the fourth morning she
+remained, though with tail straight up and ready for instant flight. But
+finding that we did not disturb her, she calmed down, and became so
+fearless that she did not move nor appear agitated when at last we did
+stop before her door, spoke to her, and identified her as the
+black-billed cuckoo.
+
+On the eighth day of our visits it happened that I went to the woods
+alone. I found the bird at home, as usual, and armed with an
+opera-glass, I placed myself at some distance to watch her. Half an hour
+passed before she stirred a feather, but I was not lonely. A
+mourning-warbler came about, eating and singing alternately, after the
+manner of his kind, and the pretty trill of the black-throated green
+warbler came out of the woods. Then a crow mamma created a diversion by
+helping herself to an egg for her baby's breakfast, when a robin and a
+vireo--curious pair!--took after her with loud cries of indignation and
+reproach.
+
+When this excitement was over, the trio had disappeared in the woods,
+and silence had fallen upon us again, I heard the cuckoo call at a
+little distance, and in a moment the bird himself alighted on a twig
+three feet above the nest. He was a beauty, but he appeared greatly
+excited. He threw up his tail till it pointed to the sky over his head,
+then let it slowly drop to the horizontal position. This he did three
+times, while he looked down upon his household, so absorbed that he did
+not see me at all.
+
+Then the patient sitter vacated her post, and he flew down to the nest.
+The top was hidden by leaves, so that I cannot positively affirm that he
+sat on the eggs, but it is certain that he remained perfectly silent
+and motionless there for forty-five minutes. Then I caught sight of
+Madam returning. She came in from the woods, behind and at the level of
+the nest; there was a moment's flutter of wings, and I saw that her mate
+was gone, and she in her usual place.
+
+The next day there was a change in the programme. It happened that I
+arrived when the mother was away, and the head of the household in
+charge. No sooner did I appear on the path than he flew off the nest
+with great hustle, thus betraying himself at once; but he did not desert
+his post of protector. He perched on a branch somewhat higher than my
+head, and five or six feet away, and began calling, a low "coo-oo." With
+every cry he opened his mouth very wide, as though to shriek at the top
+of his voice, and the low cry that came out was so ludicrously
+inadequate to his apparent effort that it was very droll. In this
+performance he made fine display of the inside of his mouth and throat,
+which looked, from where I stood, like black satin.
+
+The calls he made while I watched him sounded so far off that if I had
+not been within six feet of him, and seen him make them, I should never
+have suspected him:--
+
+                        "A cry
+  Which made me look a thousand ways,
+  In bush and tree and sky."
+
+Finding that his voice did not drive me away, the bird resorted to
+another method; he tried intimidation. First he threw himself into a
+most curious attitude, humping his shoulders and opening his tail like a
+fan, then spreading his wings and resting the upper end of them on his
+tail, which made at the back a sort of scoop effect. Every time he
+uttered the cry he lifted wings and tail together, and let them fall
+slowly back to their natural position. It was the queerest bird
+performance I ever saw.
+
+During all this excitement there sounded from a little distance a low
+single "coo," which, I suppose, was the voice of his mate. Not wishing
+to make a serious disturbance in the family, and seeing that he was not
+to be conciliated, I walked slowly on, looking in the nest as I passed.
+It contained one egg that looked like a robin's, and beside it a small
+bundle of what resembled black flesh stuck full of white pins. This,
+then, was the cuckoo baby; surely an odd one!
+
+On the third day after this experience we were fortunate enough again to
+find the nest uncovered. A second youngster lay beside the first, and
+the two entirely filled the nest. They were perhaps two and a half
+inches long, and resembled, as said above, mere lumps of flesh. After
+looking at the young family, we seated ourselves a little way off to
+wait for some one to come home.
+
+The place the cuckoo had chosen to nest was one of the most attractive
+spots on the grounds, an opening in the woods in which, after the loss
+of the trees, had grown up a thicket of wild berries. The bushes were
+nearly as high as one's head, and so luxuriant that they made an
+impenetrable tangle, through which paths were cut in all directions, and
+kept open by much work each year.
+
+In the middle of the opening was a clump of larger saplings, around the
+foot of two or three very tall old basswood-trees, part of the original
+forest. It was the paradise of small fruits. Early in the season
+elderberries ripened, and offered food to whoever would come. Before
+they were gone the bushes were red with the raspberry, and blackberries
+were ready to follow; choke-cherries completed the list, and lasted till
+into the fall. The insect enemies of fruit were there in armies.
+
+Its constant supply of food, its shelter from the winds on every side,
+and its admirable hiding-places for nests, made this warm, sunny corner
+the chosen home of many birds. Warblers were there from early spring,
+heard, though not always seen. Veeries nested on its borders,
+woodpeckers haunted the dead trees at the edge, and all the birds of the
+neighborhood paid visits to it.
+
+We had not waited long when the head of the cuckoo family appeared. He
+saw us instantly, and, I regret to say, was no more reconciled to our
+presence than he had been on the previous occasion; but he showed his
+displeasure in a different way. He rushed about in the trees, crying,
+"cuck-a-ruck, cuck-a-ruck," running out even to the tip of slender
+branches that seemed too slight to bear his weight. When his feelings
+entirely overcame him he flew away, and though we remained fifteen
+minutes, no one came to the nest.
+
+The day after this display of unkindly feeling toward us we passed down
+the cuckoo path, saw Madam on the nest, and at once determined to wait
+and see what new demonstration her mate would invent to express his
+emotions. My comrade threw herself down full length on the dead leaves
+beside the path, where she could bask in the sunlight, while I sat in
+the shade close by.
+
+After some time we saw the cuckoo stealing in by a roundabout back way
+through the low growth in the edge of the wood. He was coming with
+supplies, for a worm dangled from his beak. He had nearly reached the
+nest--in fact was not two feet away--when his eyes fell upon us. He
+stopped as if paralyzed. We remained motionless, almost breathless, but
+he did not take his eyes off us, nor attempt to relieve himself of that
+worm. Still we did not move; arms began to ache, feet tingled with
+"going to sleep," every joint stiffened, and I began to be afraid I
+should find myself turned to stone. Still that bird never moved an
+eyelid, so far as we could see.
+
+It was fully twenty-five minutes that we three stared at each other, all
+struck dumb. But Nature asserted herself in us before it did in him. The
+sun was hot, and the mosquitoes far from dumb. We yielded as gracefully
+as we could under the circumstances, and left him there as motionless as
+a "mounted specimen" in a glass case.
+
+The next morning we started out rather earlier than usual, half
+expecting to find Master Cuckoo grown to that perch. It appeared,
+however, that he had torn himself away, for he was not to be seen. The
+little mother, who was on the nest, had readily learned that we intended
+no harm, but her peppery little spouse learned nothing; he was just as
+unreconciled to us the last day as the first.
+
+This time he tried to keep out of sight. First we heard his call far
+off, then a low "cuck-a-ruck" quite near, to which she replied with a
+gentle "coo-oo" hardly above her breath.
+
+It was soothing, but it did not altogether soothe. He came up from
+behind us with another dangling worm in his mouth, slipped silently
+through the bushes to the nest, and in a moment departed by the back way
+without a word. Then we went nearer, looked once more upon the shy but
+brave little mother, and went our way.
+
+We did not suspect it, but that was our last sight of the cuckoo family
+at home; the next day the place was empty and deserted.
+
+I was smitten with remorse. Were we the cause of the calamity? Had the
+poor birds carried off the babies? Or had, perchance, another nest
+tragedy occurred? We looked carefully; there were no signs of a
+struggle. They had apparently flown in peace. Yet six days before one
+was still in the egg and the other newly hatched. Only two days ago the
+pair looked like tiny black cushions covered with white pins, and not a
+quarter the size of the parents. Moreover, they had been sat upon every
+day.
+
+In this painful uncertainty we were obliged to leave the matter; but
+although we saw no more of them, they did not pass out of our minds.
+Every day we looked in the woods and listened for cuckoo voices, but
+every day we were disappointed, until about eleven days later.
+
+We were walking slowly down what we called the veery road in the woods,
+far over the other side from the cuckoo's nest, when we heard a very
+low but strange baby cry in some thick bushes. It was a constant
+repetition of one note, a gentle "tut, tut, tut."
+
+We were naturally eager to see the youngster, and we carefully
+approached the spot. As we came near, a cuckoo flew up, scrambled
+through a tree, and disappeared. Could it be a cuckoo baby we had heard?
+In an instant the fugitive seemed to think better of her intention to
+fly. Perhaps she was conscience-smitten for deserting the little one,
+for she returned in plain sight, though at some distance. She began at
+once calling and posturing, clearly for our benefit. We, of course,
+understood her tactics. She wished to draw us away from the neighborhood
+of her infant, and as it was impossible to penetrate the thicket, and we
+did not enjoy torturing an anxious mother, we decided to yield to her
+wishes, and see what she would do.
+
+She cried every moment, "tut, tut, tut," in a low tone, and ten or
+twelve times repeated. At the same time she lifted her long tail, and
+slowly let it fall, with a beautiful and graceful motion. She crouched
+on the branch, and put her head down to it, then suddenly rose and threw
+up her head and tail, making herself as conspicuous and as remarkable as
+she could. We moved a little toward her. That encouraged her to go on;
+and easily, in a sort of careless, inconsequent way, she hopped to the
+next branch farther. So we let ourselves be drawn away, she keeping up
+all the time the low call, while the infant, which we are sure was
+there, had become utterly silent.
+
+She was a beautiful creature, a picture of grace; and when she had
+beguiled us some distance away from where we heard the baby-cry, she
+suddenly slipped behind a branch and was gone; and we felt repaid for
+missing the young one by the beautiful exhibition she had made of
+herself. We never saw her again.
+
+
+
+
+XXI.
+
+TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS.
+
+
+Last summer I made the acquaintance of an outlaw; an unfortunate
+fellow-creature under the ban of condemnation, burdened with an
+opprobrious name, and by general consent given over to the tender
+mercies of any vagabond who chooses to torture him or take his life. One
+would naturally sympathize with the "under dog," but when, instead of
+one of his peers as opponent, a poor little fellow, eight inches long,
+has arrayed against him the whole human race, with all its devices for
+catching and killing, his chances for life and the pursuit of happiness
+are so small that any lover of justice must be roused to his defense, if
+defense be possible.
+
+The individual of whom I speak is, properly, the yellow-bellied
+woodpecker, though he is more commonly known as the sapsucker, in some
+places the squealing sapsucker; and I hailed with joy his presence in a
+certain protected bit of woods, a little paradise for birds and bird
+lovers, where, if anywhere, he could be studied. There is some propriety
+in applying to him the strange epithet "squealing," I must allow, for
+the bird has a peculiar voice, nasal enough for the conventional Brother
+Jonathan; but "sapsucker" is, in the opinion of many who have studied
+his ways, undeserved. Dr. Merriam, even while admitting that the birds
+do taste the sap, says positively, "It is my firm belief that their
+chief object in making these holes is to secure the insects which gather
+about them."
+
+My introduction to the subject of my study took place just after sundown
+on a beautiful June evening. We were riding up from the railway station,
+three miles away. The horses had climbed to the top of the last hill,
+and trotted gayly through a belt of fragrant woods which reached like an
+arm around from the forest behind, as if lovingly inclosing the
+attractive scene,--a pleasant, old-fashioned homestead, with ample lawn
+sloping down toward the valley we had left, and looking away over low
+hills to the apparently unbroken forests of the Adirondacks.
+
+At this moment there arose a loud, strange cry, of distress it seemed,
+and I turned hastily to see a black and white bird, with bright red
+crown and throat, bounding straight up the trunk of an elm-tree,
+throwing back his head at every jerk with a comical suggestion of
+Jack's "Hitchety! hatchety! up I go!" as he joyously mounted his
+beanstalk, in the old nursery story. There was surely nothing amiss with
+this little fellow, and, knowing almost nothing of the
+
+                  "Greys, whites, and reds,
+  Of pranked woodpeckers that ne'er gossip out,
+  But always tap at doors and gad about,"
+
+I eagerly demanded his name, and was delighted to hear in answer, "The
+sapsucker." I was delighted because I hoped to see for myself whether
+the bird merited the offensive name bestowed upon him, or was the victim
+of hasty generalization from careless observation or insufficient data,
+like others of his race. The close investigations of scientific men have
+reversed many popular decisions. They have proved the crow to be the
+farmer's friend, most of the hawks and owls to be laborers in his
+interest, the kingbird to fare almost entirely upon destructive insects
+rather than bees, and other birds to be more sinned against than
+sinning.
+
+The first thing noted was the sapsucker's peculiar food-seeking habit.
+One bird made the lawn a daily haunt, and we, living chiefly on the
+veranda, saw him before us at all hours, from dawn to dusk, and thus had
+the best possible chance to catch him in mischief, if to mischief he
+inclined. He generally made his appearance flying in bounding, wave-like
+fashion, uttering his loud mournful cry, which, though an apparent
+wail, was evidently not inspired by sadness. Alighting near the foot of
+a tree-trunk, with many repetitions of his complaining note, he gayly
+bobbed his way up the bark highway as if it were a ladder. When he
+reached the branches, he flew to another tree. This bird's custom of
+delivering his striking call as he approached and mounted a tree not far
+from his "food tree" may be a newly acquired habit; for Dr. Merriam, who
+observed this species ten years ago on the same place, says that he
+"never heard a note of any description from them, either while in the
+neighborhood of these trees, or in flying to and fro between them and
+the forests." On his own trees the sapsucker was not in such haste, but
+lingered about the prepared rings, evidently taking his pick of the
+insects attracted there.
+
+The array of traps prepared for the woodpecker's use was most curious,
+and readily explained how he came by his name. The clever little workman
+had selected for his purpose two trees. One was a large elm, and around
+its trunk, about fifteen feet from the ground, he had laboriously cut
+with his sharp beak several rings of cups. These receptacles were
+somewhat less than half an inch in diameter, and nearly their own width
+apart, and the rings encircled the trunk as regularly as though laid
+out with mechanical instruments. His second depot of supplies was one of
+a close group of mountain ashes, which seemed to spring from one root,
+and were thickly shaded by leaves to the ground. The elm would naturally
+attract the high-flying insects, and the ash those which stay nearer the
+earth, though I do not presume to say that was the bird's intention in
+so arranging them. The mountain-ash trunk was perforated in a different
+way from the elm, the holes being in lines up and down, and the whole
+trunk covered five or six feet above the root. These places were not at
+all moist or sticky on the several occasions when I examined them, and
+both trees were in a flourishing condition.
+
+The habit of the author of this elaborate arrangement was to fly from
+one tree to the other almost constantly. It appeared to lookers-on that
+he visited the traps on one and secured whatever was caught or lingered
+there, then went to the other for the same purpose; thus allowing
+insects a chance to settle on each while he was absent. At almost any
+hour of the day he could be found vigorously carrying on his insect hunt
+in this singular fashion.
+
+It was too late in the season to see the sapsucker in his most
+frolicsome humor, although occasionally we met in the woods two of them
+in a lively mood, eagerly discussing in garrulous tones their own
+private affairs, or chasing each other with droll, taunting cries, some
+of which resembled the boy's yell, "oy-ee," but others defied
+description. During courtship, observes Dr. Merriam, they are
+inexpressibly comical, with queer rollicking ways and eccentric pranks,
+making the woods ring with their extraordinary voices. At this time,
+early in June, the season of woodpecker wooing was past. Each little
+couple had built a castle in the air, and set up a household of its own,
+somewhere in the woods surrounding the house.
+
+The two storehouses on the lawn seemed to belong to one family, whose
+labor alone had prepared them; certainly they were the property of the
+sapsuckers. But the bird world, like the human, has its spoilers. A
+frequent visitor to the elm, on poaching bent, was a humming-bird, who
+treated the beguiling cups like so many flowers, hovering lightly before
+them, and testing one after another in regular order. The owner
+naturally objected, and if present flew at the dainty robber; but the
+elusive birdling simply moved to another place, not in the least awed by
+his comparatively clumsy assailant. Large flies, perhaps bees also,
+buzzed around the tempting bait, and doubtless many paid with their
+lives for their folly.
+
+The most unexpected plunderer of the sapsucker stores was a gray
+squirrel, who lay spread out flat against the trunk as though glued
+there, body, arms, legs, and even tail, with head down and closely
+pressed against the bark. I cannot positively affirm that he was sucking
+the sap or feeding upon the insects attracted to it, but it is a fact
+that his mouth rested exactly over one of the rings of holes; and his
+position seemed very satisfactory, for some reason, for he hung there
+motionless so long that I began to fear he was dead. All these petty
+pilferers may possibly have regarded the treasure as nature's own
+provision, like the flowers, but one visitor to his neighbor's magazine
+certainly knew better. This was the brilliant cousin of the sapsucker,
+the red-headed woodpecker, whose vagaries I shall speak of a little
+later.
+
+Nothing about the tri-colored family is more interesting than its habit
+of drumming,--
+
+          "The ceaseless rap
+  Of the yellow-hammer's tap,
+  Tip-tap, tip-tap, tip-tap-tip.
+  'Tis the merry pitter-patter
+  Of the yellow-hammer's tap."
+
+Whether or not it is mere play is perhaps yet an open question. The
+drumming of the sapsucker, one of the most common sounds of the woods
+and lawn, seemed sometimes simply for amusement, but again it appeared
+exceedingly like a signal. A bird frequently settled himself in plain
+sight of us, on one of the trespass notices in the woods, and spent
+several minutes in that occupation, changing his place now and then, and
+thus producing different sounds, whether with that intention or not. Now
+he would tap on top of the board, again down one side, and then on a
+corner, but always on the edge. Nor was it a regular and monotonous
+rapping; it was curiously varied. One performance that I carefully noted
+down at the moment reminded me of the click of a telegraph instrument.
+It was "rat-tat-tat-t-t-t-t-rat-tat,"--the first three notes rather
+quick and sharp, the next four very rapid, and the last two quite slow.
+After tapping, the bird always seemed to listen. Often while I was
+watching one at his hammering, a signal of the same sort would come from
+a distance. Sometimes my bird replied; sometimes he instantly flew in
+the direction from which it came. Around the house the woodpeckers
+selected particular spots to use as drums, generally a bit of tin on a
+roof, or an eave-gutter of the same metal. A favorite place was the
+hindquarters of a gorgeous gilded deer that swung with the wind on the
+roof of the barn.
+
+So closely were they watched that the sapsuckers themselves were like
+old acquaintances before the babes in the woods began to make
+themselves heard. No sooner had these little folk found their voices
+than they made the woods fairly echo. Cry-babies in feathers I thought I
+knew before, but the young woodpecker outdoes anything in my experience.
+No wonder the woodpecker mamma sets up her nursery out of the reach of
+prowlers of all sorts; so loud and so persistent are the demands of her
+nestlings that they would not be safe an hour, if they could be got at.
+The tone, too, must always arrest attention, for it is of the nasal
+quality I have mentioned. The first baby whisper, hardly heard at the
+foot of the tree, has a squeaky twang, which strengthens with the
+infant's strength, and the grown-up murmurs of love and screams of war
+are of the same order.
+
+It was during the nest-feeding days that we discovered most of the
+sapsucker homesteads; for, having many nests nearer our own level to
+study, we never sought them, and noticed them only when the baby voices
+attracted our attention. The home that apparently belonged to our bird
+of the lawn was beautifully placed in a beech-tree heavy with foliage.
+At first we thought the owner an eccentric personage, who had violated
+all sapsucker traditions by building in a living tree; but, on looking
+closely, it was evident that the top of the tree had been blown off,
+and from that break the trunk was dead two or three feet down. In that
+part was the opening, and the foliage that nearly hid it grew on the
+large branches below. Most of the nests, however, were in the customary
+dead trunks, on which we could gently rap, and bring out whoever was at
+home to answer our call.
+
+Young woodpeckers are somewhat precocious; or, to speak more correctly,
+they stay in the nest till almost mature. We see in this family no
+half-fledged youngster wandering aimlessly about, unable to fly or to
+help itself, a sight very common among the feathered folk whose homes
+are nearer the ground. One morning, a young bird, not yet familiar with
+the mysteries of the world about him, flew into the open window of a
+room in the house, and for an hour we had a fine opportunity to study
+him near at hand. The moment he entered he went to the cornice, and
+although he flew around freely, he did not descend so low as the top of
+the window, wide open for his benefit. He was not in the least afraid or
+embarrassed by his staring audience, nor did he beat himself against the
+wall and the furniture, as would many birds in his position; in fact, he
+showed unusual self-possession and self-reliance. He was exceedingly
+curious about his surroundings: tapped the wall, tested the top of
+picture frames, drummed on the curtain cornice, and closely examined
+the ceiling. He was beautifully dressed in soft gray all mottled and
+spotted and barred with white, but he had not as yet put on the red cap
+of his fathers. While we watched him, he heard outside a sapsucker cry,
+to which he listened eagerly; then he drummed quite vigorously on the
+cornice, as if in reply. It was not till he must have been very hungry
+that he blundered out of the window, as he had doubtless blundered in.
+
+The beauty of the drumming family, at least in that part of the country,
+is the red-headed woodpecker, which it happened I did not know. The
+first time I saw one, he was out for an airing with his mate, one lovely
+evening in June. The pair were scrambling about, as if in play, on the
+trunk of a tall maple-tree across the lane. They did not welcome our
+visit, nor our perhaps rather rude way of gazing at them; for one flew
+away, and the other perched on the topmost dead branch of a tree a
+little farther off, and proceeded to express his mind by a scolding
+"kr-r-r," accompanied by violent bows toward us. Finding his
+demonstration unavailing, he soon followed his mate, and weeks passed
+before we saw him again, although we often walked down the lane with the
+hope of doing so.
+
+One beautiful morning, after the hay had been cut from the meadow, and
+all the hidden nests we had looked at and longed for while grass was
+growing, were opened to us, I had taken my comfortable folding-chair to
+a specially delightful nook between a clump of evergreens, which
+screened it from the house, and a row of maples, elms, and other trees,
+much frequented by birds. Close before me was a beautiful hawthorn-tree,
+in which a pair of kingbirds had long ago built their nest. On one side
+I could look over to an impenetrable, somewhat swampy thicket, where
+song sparrows and indigo birds nested; on the other, past the
+picturesque old-fashioned arbor, half buried under vines and untrimmed
+trees, far down the pretty carriage-drive between young elms and
+flowering shrubs, where the bobolink had raised her brood, and the
+meadow lark had chanted his vesper hymn for us all through June. Many
+winged strangers came to feast on the treasures uncovered by the
+hay-cutter, and then the shy red-head showed himself on our grounds. To
+my surprise, he was searching the freshly cut stubble not at all like a
+woodpecker, but hobbling about most awkwardly, half flying, half
+hopping, seeking some delectable morsel, which, when found, he carried
+to the side of a tree-trunk, thrust into a crack, and ate at his
+leisure. The object I saw him treat in this way was as large as a bee,
+and he was some time in disposing of it, even after it was anchored in
+the crack. Then, observing that, although a long way off, I was
+interested in his doings, he slipped around behind the trunk, and peered
+at me first from one side, then in an instant from the other.
+
+The next performance with which this bird entertained me was poaching
+upon his cousin's preserves. Sitting one evening on the veranda, looking
+over the meadow, I heard his low "kr-r-r," and saw him alight upon the
+sapsucker's elm. Whether he stumbled upon the feast or went with malice
+aforethought, he was not slow to appreciate the charms of his position.
+It may have been the nectar from the tree, or the minute victims of its
+attractions, I could not tell which, but something pleased him, for he
+devoted himself to the task of exploring the tiny cups his industrious
+relative had carved, driving away one of the younger members of the
+family already in possession. The young bird could not refuse to go
+before the big beak and determined manner of the stranger, but he did
+refuse to stay away; and every time he was ousted he returned to the
+tree, though he settled on a different place. Before the red-head had
+shown any signs of exhausting his find, the sapsucker himself appeared,
+and at once fell upon his bigger cousin with savage cries. Disturbed so
+rudely from his pleasing occupation, the intruder retired before the
+attack, though he protested vigorously; and so great was the fascination
+of the spot, that he returned again and again, every time to go through
+the same process of being driven away.
+
+The raspberry hedge before my windows was the decoy that gave me my best
+chance to study the red-headed woodpecker. Day after day, as the berries
+ripened, I watched the dwellers of wood and meadow drawn to the rich
+feast, and at last, one morning, to my great joy, I saw the interesting
+drummer alight on a post overlooking the loaded vines. He plainly felt
+himself a stranger, and not certain of his reception by the residents of
+the neighborhood, for he crouched close to the fence, and looked warily
+about on every side. He had been there but a few moments when a robin,
+self-constituted dictator of that particular corner of the premises,
+came down a few feet from him, as if to inquire his business. The
+woodpecker acknowledged the courtesy by drawing himself up very straight
+and bowing. The bow impressed, not to say awed, the native bird. He
+stood staring blankly, till the new-comer proclaimed his errand by
+dropping into the bushes, helping himself to a berry, and returning to
+the fence to dispose of his plunder. This was too much; the outraged
+redbreast dashed suddenly over the head of the impertinent visitor,
+almost touching it as he passed. The woodpecker kept his ground in spite
+of this demonstration, and I learned how a bird accustomed to rest, and
+even to work, hanging to the trunk of a tree, would manage to pluck and
+eat fruit from a bush. He first sidled along the top of the board fence,
+looking down, till he had selected his berry. Then he half dropped, half
+flew, into the bushes, and sometimes seized the ripe morsel instantly,
+without alighting, but generally hung, back down, on a stalk which bent
+and swayed with his weight, while he deliberately gathered the fruit. He
+then returned to the fence, laid his prize down, and pecked it apart,
+making three or four bites of it. After some practice he learned to
+swallow a berry whole, though it often required three or four attempts,
+and seemed almost more than he could manage. When he had accomplished
+this feat, he sat with his head drawn down into his shoulders, as though
+he found himself uncomfortably stuffed. Having eaten two or three
+raspberries, our distinguished visitor always picked another, with which
+he flew away,--doubtless for the babies growing up in some dead tree
+across the lane.
+
+The little difficulty with the robin was easily settled by the stranger.
+Somewhat later in that first day, he took his revenge for the insulting
+dash over him by turning the tables and sweeping over the lofty head of
+the astonished robin, who ducked ingloriously, in his surprise, and
+called out, "Tut! tut!" as who should say, "Can such things be?" After
+that Master Robin undertook a closer surveillance of that highway the
+fence, and might be seen at all hours perched on the tall gatepost,
+looking out for callers in brilliant array, or running along its whole
+length to see that no wily woodpecker was hiding in the bushes. He could
+not be on guard every moment, for his nursery up under the eaves of the
+barn was full of clamorous babies, and he was obliged to give some
+attention to them; but the red-head was not afraid of him, and, finding
+the fruit to his taste, he soon became a daily guest.
+
+Sometimes the spouse of the gay little fellow came also. She was always
+greeted by a low-whispered "kr-r-r," and the husky-toned conversation
+between the two was kept up so long as both were there. Now, too, as the
+male began to feel at home, I saw more of his odd ways. His attitudes
+were especially comical. Sometimes he clung to the edge of the top
+board, his tail pressed against it, his wings drooped and spread a
+little, exposing his whole back, and thus remained for perhaps ten
+minutes. Again he flattened himself out on top of a post for a sun
+bath. He sprawled and spread himself, every feather standing independent
+of its neighbor, till he looked as if he had been smashed flat, and more
+like some of the feather monstrosities with which milliners disfigure
+their hats than a living bird.
+
+Another curious habit of my versatile guest was his fly-catching. It is
+already notorious that the golden-wing is giving up the profession of
+woodpecker and becoming a ground bird; it is equally patent to one who
+observes him that the red-head is learning the trade of fly-catching.
+Frequently, during the weeks that I had him under observation, I saw him
+fly up in the air and return to the fence, exactly like the kingbird.
+
+All the time I had been making this pleasing acquaintance I had longed
+in vain to find the red-head's nest. It was probably in the pasture in
+which we had first met him, where the somewhat spirited cattle in
+possession prevented my explorations. I hoped at least to see his young
+family; but July days passed away, and though the bonny couple spent
+much time among the raspberries, they always carried off the nestlings'
+share.
+
+In the very last hours of my stay, after trunks were packed, fate
+relented, and I spent nearly the whole day studying the "tricks and
+manners" of a red-headed baby. I had returned from my last morning's
+walk in the woods, and was seated by my window, thinking half sadly that
+my summer was ended, when I saw the woodpecker come to the raspberries,
+gather one, and fly away with it. Instead, however, of heading, as
+usual, for the woods across the pasture, he alighted on a fence near by.
+A small dark head rose above the edge of a board, opened a bill, and
+received the berry in it. Instantly I turned my glass upon that
+meek-looking head. So soon as the old bird disappeared the young one
+came up in sight, and in a few moments flew over to the nearer fence,
+beside the bushes. Then one of the parents returned, fed him two or
+three times, apparently to show him that berries grew on bushes, and not
+in the beak, and then departed with an air that said, "There, my son,
+are the berries; help yourself!"
+
+Left now to his own devices, the little woodpecker was my study for
+hours. He was like his parents, except that he was gray where they were
+red, and the white on the wings was barred off with a dark color which
+on theirs did not appear. Like young creatures the world over, he at
+once began to amuse himself, working at a hole in the top of a post,
+digging into it vehemently, and at last, after violent effort, bringing
+out a stick nearly as long as himself. This he brandished about as a
+child flourishes a whip, and presently laid it down, worried it, flung
+it about, and had a rare frolic with it. Tiring of that, he closely
+examined the fence, going over it inch by inch, and pecking every mark
+and stain on it. When startled by a bird flying over or alighting near
+him, he sprang back instantly, slipped over behind the fence or post,
+and hung on by his claws, leaving only his head in sight. He was a true
+woodpecker in his manners; bowing to strangers who appeared, driving
+away one of his sapsucker cousins who came about, and keeping up a low
+cry of "kr-r-r" almost exactly like his parents. He showed also great
+interest in a party of goldfinches, who seemed to have gone mad that
+morning.
+
+Finally the thought of berries struck the young red-head. He began to
+consider going for them. One could fairly see the idea grow in his mind.
+He leaned over and peered into the bushes; he hitched along the fence, a
+little nearer, bent over again, then came down on the side of the board,
+and hung there, with body inclined toward the fruit. After many such
+feints, he actually did drop to the second board, and a little later
+secured a berry, which he took to the top of the post to eat. In spite
+of the fact that he was amply able to help himself, as he proved, he
+still demanded food when his parents came near, bowing and calling
+eagerly, but not fluttering his wings, as do most young birds.
+
+Nearly all day the little fellow entertained himself; working
+industriously on the fence, hammering the posts as if to keep in
+practice, as children play at their parents' life work, and varying
+these occupations with occasional excursions into the bushes for
+berries. The notion of flying away from where he had been left never
+appeared to enter his head. He seemed to be an unusually well-balanced
+young person, and intelligent beyond his years,--days, I should say.
+
+
+
+
+XXII.
+
+FROM MY WINDOW.
+
+
+The best place I have found for spying upon the habits of birds is
+behind a blind. If one can command a window with outside blinds, looking
+upon a spot attractive to the feathered world, he will be sure, sooner
+or later, to see every bird of the vicinity. If he will keep the blinds
+closed and look only through the opened slats, he will witness more of
+their unconstrained free ways than can possibly be seen by a person
+within their sight, though he assume the attitude and the stolidity of a
+wooden figure. Says our nature-poet, Emerson:--
+
+  "You often thread the woods in vain
+  To see what singer piped the strain.
+  Seek not, and the little eremite
+  Flies forth and gayly sings in sight."
+
+And the bird student can testify to the truth of the verse.
+
+Many times, after having spent the morning in wandering about in the
+bird haunts of a neighborhood, I have returned to my room to write up my
+note-book, and have seen more of birds and bird life in an hour from my
+window than during the whole morning's stroll.
+
+One of my windows, last summer, looked out upon an ideal bird corner: a
+bit of grass, uncut till very late, with a group of trees and shrubs at
+the lower boundary, and an old board fence, half buried in luxuriant
+wild raspberry bushes, running along one side. It was a neglected spot,
+the side yard of a farmhouse; and I was careful not to enter it myself
+so often as to suggest to the birds that they were likely to see people.
+It had the further advantage of being so near the woods surrounding the
+house, that the shy forest birds were attracted to it.
+
+No sooner would I seat myself, pen in hand, than chirps and twitters
+would come from the trees, a bird alight on the fence, or a red squirrel
+come out to sun himself. Of course the pen gave way to the opera-glass
+in a moment, and often not a line of the note-book got itself written
+till birds and squirrels had gone to bed with the sun.
+
+The group of trees which bounded my view at the end of this outdoor
+study I called the "locust group." It consisted of a locust or two,
+surrounded by a small but close growth of lesser trees and shrubs that
+made a heavy mass of foliage. There were a few young ashes, two or three
+half-grown maples, a shadberry bush, and wild raspberry vines to carry
+the varied foliage to the ground. Inside this beautiful tangle of
+Nature's own arranging, was a perfect tent, so thickly grown near the
+ground that a person could hardly penetrate it without an axe, but open
+and roomy above, with branches and twigs enough to accommodate an army
+of birds. Behind that waving green curtain of leaves took place many
+dramas I longed to see; but I knew that my appearance there would be a
+signal for the whole scene to vanish, and with flit of wings the
+_dramatis personæ_ to make their exit. So I tried to possess my soul in
+patience, and to content myself with the flashes and glimpses I could
+catch through an opening here and there in the leafy drapery.
+
+At one corner of the group stood a small dead tree. This was the
+phoebe's customary perch, and on those bare branches--first or
+last--every visitor was sure to appear. On the lower branch the robin
+paused, with worm in mouth, on the way to his two-story nest under the
+eaves of the barn. On the top spire the warbler baby sat and stared at
+the world about it, till its anxious parent could coax it to a more
+secluded perch. From a side branch the veery poured his wonderful song,
+and the cheery little song sparrow uttered his message of good will for
+all to hear and heed. Here the red-headed woodpecker waited, with low
+"k-r-r-r-r" and many bows to the universe in general, to see if the way
+were clear for him to go to the fence. Nothing is so good to bring birds
+into sight as an old fence or a dead tree. On the single leafless branch
+at the top of an old apple-tree the student will generally see, at one
+time or another, every bird in an orchard.
+
+This dead tree of the locust group was the regular perch of "the
+loneliest of its kind," the phoebe, whose big chuckle-head and high
+shoulders gave him the look of an old man, bent with age. His outline
+one could never mistake, even though he were but a silhouette against
+the sky. One of these birds could nearly always be seen on the lowest
+branch pursuing his business of fly-catcher, and I learned more of the
+singularly reserved creature than I ever knew before. I found, contrary
+to my expectation, that he had a great deal to say for himself, aside
+from the professional performance at the peak of the barn roof which
+gives him his name.
+
+  "Phoebe is all it has to say
+  In plaintive cadence o'er and o'er,"
+
+sings the poet, but he had not so close acquaintance with him as I
+enjoyed behind my blind. There were two mud cottages in the
+neighborhood, and two pairs of birds to occupy them, and no phoebe of
+spirit will tolerate in silence another of his kind near him. Sparrows
+of all sorts might come about; juncos and chickadees, thrushes and
+warblers, might alight on his chosen tree,--rarely a word would he say;
+but let a phoebe appear, and there began at once a war of words. It
+might be mere friendly talk, but it sounded very much like vituperation
+and "calling names," and I noticed that it ended in a chase and the
+disappearance of one of them.
+
+Again, whenever a phoebe alighted on the fence he made a low but
+distinct remark that sounded marvelously like "cheese-it," and several
+times the mysterious bird treated me to a very singular performance. He
+hovered like a humming-bird close before a nest, looking into it and
+uttering a loud strange cry, like the last note of "phoebe" repeated
+rapidly, as "be-be-be." Was it derision, complaint, or a mere neighborly
+call? This was not for the benefit of his own family, for he did it
+before the robin's nest. I thought at first he meant mischief to the
+young robins, but although he approached very near he did not actually
+touch them.
+
+The loudest note this bird uttered was, of course, his well-known
+"phoebe," which he delivered from the peak of the barn (never from the
+dead tree) with an emphasis that proclaimed to all whom it might
+concern that he had something on his mind. It was plain that he was a
+person of cares; indeed, his whole bearing was that of one with no
+nonsense about him, with serious duties to perform. I wonder if these
+birds are ever playful! Even the babies are dignified and
+self-contained. Phoebes in a frolic would be a rare sight. Of the two
+nests whose owners I had to study, one was on a low beam in the
+cow-barn, where a person might look in; the other under the eaves of a
+farm-building close by.
+
+The special policeman of the group and its environs was a robin, who
+lived in a two-story nest under the eaves of the hay-barn. This bird,
+after the manner of his family, constituted himself regulator and
+dictator. He lived in peace with the ordinary residents, but took it
+upon himself to see that no stranger showed his head near the spot. He
+chased the crow blackbird who happened to fly over on business of his
+own, and by calls for help brought the whole robin population about the
+ears of the intruder. He also headed the mob of redbreasts that
+descended one morning upon a meek-looking half-grown kitten, who chanced
+to cast its innocent eyes upon a robin baby under the trees on another
+side of the house. The youngster could fly with ease, but he preferred
+to stay on the ground, for he quickly returned there when I put him on
+a low branch; and when a robin makes up his mind, arguments are useless.
+The same robin bullied the red-headed woodpecker, and flew at the
+kingbird when he brought his young family up to taste the raspberries.
+
+One visitor there was, however, to the fence and the locusts whom Master
+Robin did not molest. When a prolonged, incisive "pu-eep" in the martial
+and inspiring tone of the great-crested fly-catcher broke the silence, I
+observed that the robin always had plenty of his own business to attend
+to. I admire this beautiful bird, perhaps because he is the inveterate
+enemy of the house sparrow, and almost the only one who actually keeps
+that little bully in his proper place. There is to me something pleasing
+in the bearing of the great-crest, who, though of few inches, carries
+himself in a manner worthy of an eagle. Even the play of a pair of them
+on the tops of the tallest dead trees in the woods, though merry enough
+with loud joyful cries, has a certain dignity and circumspection about
+it uncommon in so small a bird.
+
+A pair of great-crests were frequent visitors to the fence, where they
+were usually very quiet. But one day as the male flew over from the
+woods, his call was answered by a loud-voiced canary, whose cage hung
+all summer outside the kitchen door. The stranger alighted on a tree,
+apparently astonished to be challenged, but he replied at once. The
+canary, who was out of sight on the other side of the cottage, answered,
+and the droll conversation was kept up for some time; the woods bird
+turning his head this way and that, eager to see his social neighbor,
+but unable, of course, to do so.
+
+A little later in the season, when baby birds began to fly about, the
+locust group became even more attractive. Its nearness to the woods, as
+already mentioned, made it convenient for forest birds, and its
+seclusion and supply of food were charms they could not resist. First of
+the fledglings to appear were a family of crow blackbirds, four of them
+with their parents. These are the least interesting feathered young
+people I know, but the parents are among the most devoted. They keep
+their little flock together, and work hard to fill their mouths. The low
+cry is husky, but insistent, and they flutter their wings with great
+energy, holding them out level with the back.
+
+After berries began to ripen, the woodpeckers came to call on us. In my
+walk in the woods in the morning, I frequently brought home a branch of
+elder with two or three clusters of berries, which I hung in the small
+dead tree. In that way I drew some of the woods birds about. The downy
+woodpecker was one of my first callers. He came with a sharp
+"chit-it-it," hung upon the clusters, occasionally head down, and picked
+and ate as long as he liked. The vigilant robin would sometimes fly at
+him, and he would leave; but in a moment back he came, and went on with
+his repast. When the care of an infant fell to him, he brought his
+charge to the source of supplies. A farm wagon happened to stand near
+the dead tree, and on this the young woodpecker alighted, and stood
+humped up and quiet while his parent went to the berries, picked several
+for himself, and then proceeded to feed him. This young person was very
+circumspect in his behavior. He did not flutter nor cry, in the usual
+bird-baby manner, but received his food with perfect composure. Berries,
+however, seemed to be new to him, and he did not appear to relish them,
+for after tasting two or three he flew away. In spite of this he came
+again the next day, and then he flew over to a cluster himself, and
+hung, back down, while he ate. He was charming with his sweet low
+chatter, and very lovely in plumage, white as snow, with dark markings
+clear and soft.
+
+One of the prettiest of our guests was a young chestnut-sided warbler.
+He looked much bigger than his papa, as warbler babies often do; but
+that is probably because the young bird is not accustomed to his suit of
+feathers, and does not know how to manage them. Some of them appear like
+a child in his grandfather's coat. The chestnut-sided warbler was
+himself an attractive little fellow, with a generous desire to help in
+the world's work pleasant to see in bird or man. After becoming greatly
+interested in one we had seen in the woods, who insisted on helping a
+widowed redstart feed her youngster, and had almost to fight the little
+dame to do so, we found another chestnut-sided warbler engaged in
+helping his fellows. Whether it were the same bird we could not tell; we
+certainly discovered him in the same corner of the woods. This little
+fellow was absorbed in the care of an infant more than twice as big as
+himself. "A cowbird baby!" will exclaim every one who knows the habit,
+shameful from our point of view, of the cowbird, to impose her infants
+on her neighbors to hatch and bring up. But this baby, unfortunately for
+the "wisdom of the wise," did not resemble the cowbird family.
+
+We saw the strange pair several times in the woods, and then one day, as
+I sat at my window trying to write, I heard a new cry, and saw a strange
+bird fly to the fence. He was very restless, ran along the top board,
+then flew to another fence, scrambled along a few feet, raising and
+lowering his tail, and all the time uttering a husky two-note baby-cry.
+While I was struggling to keep him in the field of my glass long enough
+to note his points, he went to the dead tree, when the philosophical
+phoebe sitting there took his case in hand, and made a dash for him.
+The stranger flew straight over the house, with his assailant in close
+chase. But in a moment I heard the baby-cry in a maple beside the
+cottage, while the phoebe calmly returned to his post and gave his
+mind again to his fly-catching. The young bird was not in range from the
+window, but when, a few seconds later, I heard the feeding-cry, I could
+no longer resist the desire to see him.
+
+I forgot my caution, and rushed out of the house, for I suspected that
+this uneasy visitor was the chestnut-sided's adopted charge. So I found
+it. There stood the infant, big and clumsy by comparison, calling,
+calling, forever calling; and stretching up on tiptoe, as it were, to
+reach him was the poor little warbler, trying to stop his mouth by
+stuffing him. The foster-parent lingered as if he were weary, and his
+plumage looked as if he had not dressed it for a week. But the insatiate
+beggar gave him no peace; with the swallowing of the last morsel began
+his cry for more. Again, standing within ten feet of him, I noticed the
+young bird's points, and again I was convinced that he was not a
+cowbird baby.
+
+The curious antics of a solemn kingbird, who did not suspect his hidden
+observer, were droll to look upon. He seemed to be alone on the fence,
+though some silent spectator may have been hidden behind the leaves. He
+mounted suddenly straight up in the air, with cries, twenty feet or
+more, then soared down with a beautiful display of his plumage. This he
+did many times in succession, with an indescribably conscious air, and
+at last he dropped behind some tall grass in the pasture. It looked
+exceedingly like "showing off," and who could imagine a kingbird in that
+rôle!
+
+But all flourishes were over when, somewhat later, he brought his lovely
+little family of three to the fence to be treated to berries. It was
+interesting to see a fly-catcher take his fruit "on the wing," as it
+were; that is, fly at it, seize it, and jerk it off without alighting.
+The phoebe picked berries in the same way, when he occasionally
+condescended to investigate the attraction that brought so many
+strangers into his quiet corner.
+
+The young kingbirds were sweet and chatty among themselves, and they
+decidedly approved the berries; but they never lost sight of each other,
+and kept close together, the little company of three, as I have seen
+other kingbirds do. One day they came in the rain, feathers all in
+locks, showing the dark color next the skin, and looking like beggars in
+"rags and tags," but they were as cheerful and as clannish as ever.
+
+To the locust group, too, came the red-headed woodpeckers; at first the
+parents, who talked to each other in whispered "kr-r-r-r's," and carried
+off many a sweet morsel to their family in the woods; later, one
+youngster, who took possession of the fence with the calm assurance of
+his race, and when I left the place had apparently established himself
+there for the season.
+
+Many others alighted on the fence; the junco, with his pretty brown
+bantling and his charming little trilling song; the crow baby, with its
+funny ways and queer cry of "ma-a-a;" the redstart, who
+
+  "Folds and unfolds his twinkling tail in sport;"
+
+the flicker mamma, with her "merry pitter-patter" and her baby as big as
+herself. Even the sapsucker from the lawn had somehow heard the news
+that a feast was spread near the locusts, and came over to see.
+
+Birds were not the only frequenters of the fence and the berry bushes.
+There were squirrels, gray and red, and chipmunks, who sat up pertly on
+a post, with two little paws laid upon their heart in theatrical
+attitude, as who should say, "Be still, my heart," while they looked
+the country over to see if any lurking member of the human family were
+about. The red squirrels were the most amusing, for they were very
+frolicsome, indulging in mad chases over and under the fence, through
+the trees, around the trunks, so rapidly that they resembled a red
+streak more than little beasts.
+
+One squirrel adopted the fence as his regular highway, and the high post
+of the farm gate as his watch-tower. He often sunned himself, lying on
+his face, with his legs and his tail spread out as flat as if he had
+been smashed. His presence scared the birds from the neighborhood, and I
+undertook to discourage him. I went out one day when I saw him near the
+fence. The squirrel made up his mind to pass over the gate and get into
+the locust, but I posted myself quite near, and he did not like to pass
+me. Giving up his plan is no part of a squirrel's intention, however,
+and every moment he would scramble up a few feet one side of me, with
+the design of running past me. As soon as his sharp black eyes showed
+above the top board I cried "Shoo!" He understood my motion, and
+doubtless would if I had said "Scat!" or "Get out!" (What should one say
+to a squirrel?)
+
+He dashed behind his barricade and disappeared. But he did not "stay
+put;" in two seconds he tried it again, and again his discouraging
+reception drove him back. He grew wary, however, and pretty soon I began
+to notice that every time he made his dash to the top he was a few
+inches nearer the gate, which stretched like a bridge from the fence to
+the locust-tree, and of course so much nearer me. At last, advancing
+thus inch by inch, he came up close to the gate, so near I could have
+put my hand on him,--that is, I could have put my hand on the place he
+occupied, for he did not stay to be caressed; he flew across the gate,
+sprang three or four feet into the tree, and was out of sight before I
+could lift a finger. This passage having been successfully made, he felt
+that he was safe, and could afford to be saucy. He began the usual
+scold. Then I tossed a little stick up toward him, as a reminder that
+human power is not limited by the length of an arm, and he subsided.
+
+Once when he came up to the fence top, before his grand dash, I laughed
+at him. Strange to say, this made him furious. He reviled me vehemently.
+No doubt, if I had understood his language, I should have been covered
+with confusion, for I confess that he could make a very good point
+against me. What business had I, an interloper in his dominion, to
+interfere with his rights, or to say whether he should dine off birds or
+berries?
+
+
+
+
+XXIII.
+
+THE COMICAL CROW BABY.
+
+
+Nothing in the world of feathers is so comical as a crow baby, with its
+awkward bows and ungainly hops, its tottering steps on the fence and its
+mincing, tight-boot sort of gait on the ground, its eager fluttering
+when it has hopes of food, and its loud and unintermitting demand for
+the same.
+
+My window overlooked a long stretch of cattle pastures and meadows still
+uncut, bounded on one side by woods, and in the middle of this valley
+unvisited by man, the crows of the neighborhood established a training
+school for their youngsters. A good glass let me in as unsuspected
+audience, and I had views of many interesting family scenes, supposed by
+the wary parents to be visible only to the cows stolidly feeding on the
+hillside. In this way I had all the fun and none of the trouble of the
+training business.
+
+It is astonishing how completely the manner of the adult crow is lacking
+in his young offspring, whose only external difference is the want of a
+tail. Must we then conclude that the dignity of a bird depends upon the
+length of his tail? We are accustomed to regard the crow as a grave and
+solemn personage with a serious rôle in life; and indeed life is such a
+constant warfare to him that I cannot see how he finds any enjoyment in
+it. Lowell says of him at one period:--
+
+     "The crow is very comical as a lover, and to hear him try to soften
+     his croak to the proper Saint Preux standard has something the
+     effect of a Mississippi boatman quoting Tennyson."
+
+If he is droll as a lover, he is much more entertaining as an infant.
+The first I knew of the new use of the pasture, I heard one morning a
+strange cry. It was loud and persistent, and sounded marvelously like
+"Ma-a! Ma-a!" Mingled with it I heard the vigorous cries of crows.
+
+I looked over into the pasture, and there I first saw the crow baby,
+nearly as big and black as his mamma, but with no tail to speak of. He
+sat--not stood--on the rail fence, bawling at the top of his hoarse
+baby-voice, "Ma! Ma! Ma!" and as he grew impatient he uttered it faster
+and faster and louder and louder, drawing in his breath between the
+cries, and making it more like "Wah! Wah!" Whenever mamma flew over he
+followed her movement with his eyes, turning his head, and showing an
+eager, almost painful interest, till some one took pity on him and fed
+him. As he saw food approaching his voice ran up several tones higher,
+in laughable imitation of a human baby cry. This note is of course the
+promise of a "caw," but the _a_ is flattened to the sound of _a_ in bar,
+which makes it a ludicrous caricature of our own first utterances.
+
+But sometimes mamma did not heed the cries, and sailed calmly by,
+alighting a few rails beyond her hungry infant, though he held out his
+fluttering wings in the bird-baby's begging way, exactly as does a young
+warbler who wouldn't be a mouthful for him. Then the little fellow would
+start up on unsteady legs, to walk the rail to reach her, balancing
+himself with outspread wings, and when he got beside her, put his beak
+to hers in a coaxing way that I don't see how any mother could resist.
+But this wise dame had evidently hardened her heart. She probably wanted
+him to learn to help himself, for she dropped to the ground, and went
+wading about in the wet grass and mud, and at length flew off without
+giving him a morsel. Then the disappointed youngster cuddled up to a
+brother crow baby, and both lifted up their voices and lamented the
+emptiness of the cold, cold world.
+
+Perhaps the most comical performance of this clumsy baby was his way of
+alighting on a fence when he had been flying. He seized the board with
+his claws, which clung for dear life, while his body went on as it was
+going, with the result almost of a somersault. He tried to learn,
+however. He made great efforts to master the vagaries of fences, the
+irregularities of the ground, the peculiarities of branches. He
+persistently walked the rail fence, though he had to spread both wings
+to keep his balance. Then he climbed to the top of the rail which stood
+up at the corners, and maintained his position with great effort, but
+never gave up the attempt.
+
+These interesting young folks dote on fences, after they get used to
+them, and not having learned to recognize them as devices of the enemy,
+capable of concealing a trap of some sort, they will come quite near a
+house when they see no one about. So I, behind my blind, had excellent
+chance to watch their ways. For I try to keep my window view good by
+contenting myself with what I can see from it, and never going out to
+give the birds a notion that they must look out for visitors.
+
+One day when the grass had been cut from the meadow before the house,
+and I had encamped under the shade of a big maple to see how the
+kingbirds were coming on in nesting, I noticed a young crow walking in
+the hot stubble, trying to find something to eat. He wandered about
+looking in vain to see something attractive. A robin who was also
+engaged in a food-hunt came and "took his measure," looking sharply at
+him as if to decide whether it was his duty to go for him. He plainly
+recognized the youthfulness of the intruder, for after a moment's study
+he passed on, attending to his own business, while the young crow stared
+at him in open-mouthed curiosity. At last the crow baby picked up an
+object--I could not tell what--which hung from his beak while he
+balanced the probabilities of its being good, aiding his deliberations
+by a gentle lift of the wings which looked like a shrug of the
+shoulders. He decided to risk it, and swallowed, but instantly choked it
+up, and for some time shook his head as if to get rid of even the memory
+of it. When, a few minutes after this disastrous experience, he heard
+another baby utter the cries that indicate being fed, it seemed to
+suggest to him an easier way of getting satisfaction out of life. He
+spread his wings, flew to a tree and began to call.
+
+To be a crow mamma is no sinecure. My heart went out to the poor souls
+who must be torn between anxiety for their dear "cantankerous"
+offspring, and fear of their deadly enemy, man. I watched with deep
+interest their method of training. One day I saw a baby get an object
+lesson in his proper attitude toward mankind, in this way. An old and a
+young crow were nearer the house than usual, and I walked down toward
+the fence to see why. The instant my head appeared, the elder flew with
+terrific outcry, for which of course I did not blame the poor creature,
+since mankind has proved itself her bitterest foe. The infant was nearly
+frightened to death, and followed as quickly as his awkward wings would
+carry him. I do not like to figure as "Rawhead and bloody-bones" in the
+nursery of even a crow baby, so I tried several times to redeem the bad
+name of my race. But to no avail; that subtle mamma had acquired her
+wisdom by experience, and she knew me as one of a species quite capable
+of murdering an innocent crow baby.
+
+I was interested to see the young family in the pasture taking lessons
+in following, or flying in a flock. There was great excitement and
+calling, and all flew, excepting one, who stood quietly on a big stone
+by himself. They simply circled around and alighted again, so it plainly
+was only an exercise. But the baby who did not learn the lesson and
+follow, was punished by one of the grown-ups, who flew directly against
+him on the return, and knocked him off his perch; the hint was taken,
+and the next time they flew no one stayed behind.
+
+Day by day the excitement in the crow world grew, and new families
+appeared in the pasture as fast as old ones got out. The rails of the
+fence were always occupied by young ones--though never more than five or
+six at a time--crying and shrieking and calling for "Ma-a!" and old ones
+all the time flying about half distracted, cawing and trying, I suppose,
+to enforce some order and discipline among the unruly rogues. Order,
+however, was quite a secondary consideration; the pressing duty of the
+hour was feeding. A crow parent on a foraging expedition is a most
+unwelcome visitor to the farmer with young chickens, or the bird-lover
+interested in the fate of nestlings. Yet when I saw the persecuted
+creature in the character of provider for four hungry and ever clamorous
+mouths, to whose wants she is as alive as we are to the wants of our
+babies, I took a new view of crow depredations, and could not see why
+her children should not have a chicken or a bird for breakfast, as well
+as ours. Poor hunted crow, against whom every man's hand is raised! She
+feels, with reason, that every human being is a deadly enemy thirsting
+for her life, that every cylinder pointed upward is loaded with death,
+that every string is a cruel snare to entangle and maim her,--yet whose
+offspring, dear as ours to us, clamor for food. How should she know that
+it is wrong to eat chickens; or that robin babies were made to live and
+grow up, and crow babies to die of starvation? The farmer ignores the
+millions of insects she destroys, and shoots her for the one chicken she
+takes, though she has been amply proved to be one of his most valuable
+servants. The kingbird and the oriole worry her life out of her because
+her babies like eggs--as who does not!
+
+In fact, there are, emphatically, two sides to the crow question, and I
+take the side of the crow.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV.
+
+A MIDSUMMER WOOING.
+
+
+The "sweet June days" had passed, and bird nesting was nearly at an end.
+Woods and fields were bubbling over with young bird notes, and the
+pretty cradles on tree and shrub were empty and deserted. A few motherly
+souls, it is true, were still occupied with their second broods, but, in
+general, feathered families were complete, and the parents were busy
+training their little folk for life.
+
+One bird, however, the charming, sweet-voiced goldfinch,
+
+  "All black and gold, a flame of fire,"
+
+still held aloof, as is his custom. He does not follow the fashion of
+his fellows; he resists the allurements of the nesting month; he waits.
+Whether it be for a late-coming insect necessary to the welfare of his
+nestlings, or for the thistle silk which alone makes fit cushion for his
+delicate spouse and her "wee babies," opinions differ.
+
+But though goldfinch nests were not set up, goldfinch wooing went on
+with enthusiasm; the summer air rang with sweetest song, and the
+graceful wave-like flight charmed us from morning till night. The
+courtship of the bird of July is a beautiful sight. He is at all times
+peculiarly joyous, but at this season his little body seems hardly able
+to contain him; so great is his rapture, indeed, that it infects and
+inspires the most matter-of-fact student. Our bird-loving poet Celia
+Thaxter must have seen him in loverly mood when she thus addressed
+him:--
+
+  "Where do you hide such a store of delight,
+    O delicate creature, tiny and slender,
+  Like a mellow morning sunbeam bright,
+    Overflowing with music tender?"
+
+At all hours of these enchanted days, whether fair or foul, the winsome
+little fellows were flying hither and thither, singing and calling in
+ecstatic tones, bounding through the air, and hardly pausing long enough
+to eat. July was fast slipping away when the excitement deepened and
+matters grew more serious. Then the observer, if he were wary, might
+catch occasional glimpses of puzzling scenes, mysteries of bird life
+that could not be unraveled because he did not see the whole.
+
+At one time the student came upon a scene like this: Two or three of the
+little dames in olive and gold hopping about on an evergreen tree,
+ostensibly eating, calling, in their enticing voices, "sw-e-e-t!" and
+to all appearance unconscious of the presence of two of their bright
+young wooers, sitting in perfect silence on an upper branch. Suddenly
+from this happy party one of the damsels flew, when instantly one of the
+black-winged suitors flashed out in pursuit. On she went, flying madly,
+encircled one tree, dashed to another, and around that, passed up and
+down, here and there, this way and that, but everywhere with her
+follower close after her, singing at the top of his voice, till they
+disappeared in the distance.
+
+Can the goldfinch wooing be a sort of Comanche affair? Is the little
+bride won by force? Or is she, perchance, like some of her sisters of
+larger growth, who require a "scene" of some sort to make them "name the
+day"?
+
+Again, attracted by loud eager singing, the student found a pair who
+were apparently fighting,--the peaceful goldfinch! They flew up close
+together, they almost clinched, then flew away to a group of trees,
+under, over, around, between, through, and beyond they went, never six
+inches apart, and he singing furiously all the time. At last, just as
+the looker-on expected to see them grapple, they calmly alighted on a
+tree eight or ten feet from each other. Nothing but a frolic, obviously!
+
+Another curious performance of this July wooing was several times
+noted. Hearing a strange and unfamiliar cry, in a tone of distress, I
+drew cautiously near, and found, on a low branch, one of the goldfinch
+maidens, uttering the plaintive notes, which, by the way, were
+afterwards very common about the nests. She held in her beak something
+which might be a tiny green worm, or a bit of nesting material, and she
+called constantly, looking about this way and that, as if seeking some
+one. After a while a male goldfinch appeared on the next tree, but he
+did not act in the least as if invited by her call. He seemed merely to
+be interested as any bird would be by her evident excitement. He watched
+her calmly, but did not offer to follow when at last she flew.
+
+Time, true to his reputation, was hurrying away even these sweet summer
+days, and still the love affairs of our little beauties seemed no nearer
+settlement than at first. In the opinion of impatient observers, their
+wooing was as long drawn out as that of Augustus and Araminta in an
+old-fashioned three-volume novel. Their manners, too, ludicrously
+suggested the behavior of the bigger pair; first he would follow her
+about, sing to her, parade himself, and show off; then she coquetted,
+and charmed him with her bewitching and altogether indescribable call,
+"sw-e-e-t." Then they were off in a whirl of excitement together,
+flitting hither and thither, singing and dancing through the air, life
+showing its rosiest hue.
+
+All things come to an end--in time. By the middle of the month the
+ecstasies of goldfinch youth were toned down, and the presence of dainty
+nests here and there proved that madam at least had settled to work,
+making preparation for her long, patient brooding.
+
+The tall grass in the meadow in front of the house was about this time
+laid low; nodding daisies,--white and yellow,--plumy meadow-grass and
+plain timothy, devil's paintbrush and soft purple grass flowers, alike
+lay in long rows dying on the ground. Delighted at last to possess the
+places so long tabooed to us by the heavy crop, my comrade and I went
+out the next morning on discoveries bent. The nook in which we rested
+after our walk--she on the fresh sweet hay in the broad sunshine, and I
+in the shade close by--offered a rare combination of seclusion with
+perfect security. It was within call from the veranda, yet completely
+hidden from it by a dense clump of evergreens.
+
+We had hardly settled ourselves when we noticed three lively goldfinches
+frolicking about the top of a tall maple-tree not far off. While we idly
+speculated about them, wondering if they had no mates, and if the
+goldfinches were not going to build this year, the eyes of my friend,
+who was lying on the ground, fell upon the nest. It was near the end of
+a lower branch of the maple, ten or twelve feet from the ground, and the
+little dame was at that moment working upon it. She was so deeply
+absorbed in her occupation that she did not even notice us, and we
+studied her movements with interest, till the haymakers came with wagon
+and oxen, and much talking and shouting, to gather up their fragrant
+loads, which on that side of the field stood in small stack's all ready.
+
+Once again, in spite of long experience, I was amazed to see how deaf
+and blind are people to what goes on about them. "We see only that which
+concerns us," says some one, and since the farmer, with whole mind bent
+upon making a firm and symmetrical load, did not concern himself with
+bird affairs, goldfinch work went on without hindrance. The half-loaded
+wagon paused under the chosen branch, where the man could have laid his
+hand upon the nest, but the small builder went in and out, calling and
+fluttering around as freely as if he were not there. As a matter of fact
+he was not, for though his body was near, he was down in the hay, and he
+never heard or saw the bird.
+
+We kept watch of the fateful branch, ready to protect it if necessary,
+till the train moved off, and then we went home congratulating ourselves
+on possessing the goldfinch's precious secret, planning to spend a part
+of every morning in studying her ways.
+
+"Man proposes," but many things "dispose." The next morning revealed
+another tragedy. The dainty nest, so laboriously built, was found a
+wreck, the whole of one side pulled out and hanging over the branch,
+while the soft cushion of silky white thistle-down, an inch thick, lay
+on the grass below. The culprit we could not discover, for he had left
+no trace. It might be a squirrel; it certainly looked like the work of
+his strong claws; but, on the other hand, it might be the sparrow-hawk
+who had made the meadow his daily hunting-ground since the mysterious
+disaster to the kingbird's nest had deprived us of the police services
+of that vigilant bird. Probably a squirrel was the culprit, for the hawk
+appeared only after the grass was cut, and grasshoppers and other
+insects were left without shelter, and he seemed to give his entire
+attention to the grass at the foot of the flagpole on which he always
+perched.
+
+Whoever was guilty of the cruel deed, it added one more to the list of
+ravaged nests, and of all that we watched that summer exactly half had
+been broken up or destroyed.
+
+I am happy to say that the little pair were not utterly discouraged,
+for a day or two later we found the provident mistress carefully drawing
+out of the ruin some of the material she had woven into it, and carrying
+it away, doubtless to add to a fresh nest. But she had this time chosen
+a more secluded site, that we were unable to discover. I hope she did
+not credit us with her disaster.
+
+
+
+
+XXV.
+
+A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE.
+
+
+It was just after the catastrophe of the last chapter when a pair of
+goldfinches, whose pretty pastoral I hoped to watch, had been robbed and
+driven from their home in a maple-tree that the plum-tree romance began.
+Grieving for their sorrow as well as for my loss, I turned my steps
+toward the farmhouse, intending to devote part of the day to the baby
+crows, who were enlivening the pasture with their droll cries and
+droller actions. But the crow family had the pasture to themselves that
+morning, for in passing through the orchard, looking, as always, for
+indications of feathered life, I suddenly saw a new nest in the top of a
+plum-tree, and my spirits rose instantly when I noticed that the busy
+little architect, at that moment working upon it, was a goldfinch.
+
+What an unfortunate place she had chosen, was my first thought. A young
+tree, a mere sapling, not more than eight feet high, close beside the
+regular farm road, where men, and worse, two nest-robbing boys, passed
+forty times a day. Would the trim little matron, now so happy in her
+plans, have any chance of bringing up a brood there in plain sight,
+where, if the roving eyes of those youngsters happened to fall upon her
+nest, peace would take its departure even if calamity did not overtake
+her?
+
+Looking all about, to make sure that no one was in sight, I seated
+myself to make the acquaintance of my new neighbor. My whole study of
+the life in and around the plum-tree, carried on for the next two weeks,
+was of a spasmodic order, for I had always to take care that no spies
+were about before I dared even look toward the orchard. One glimpse of
+me in the neighborhood would have disclosed their secret to the sharp
+boys who knew my ways.
+
+The little dame was bewitching in her manner, and her handsome young
+spouse the most devoted consort I ever saw in feathers, or out of them,
+I may say. Although she alone built the nest, he was her constant
+attendant, and they always made their appearance together. He dropped
+into a taller tree--an apple near by--while she, with her beak full of
+materials, alighted on the lowest branch of the plum, and hopped gayly
+from twig to twig, as though they were steps, up to the sky parlor where
+she had established her homestead. Then she went busily to work to
+adjust the new matter, while he waited patiently during the ten or
+fifteen minutes she thus occupied. Sometimes he seemed to wonder what
+she could be about all this time, for he came and alighted beside her,
+staying only an instant, and then flying with the evident expectation
+that she would follow. Usually, however, he remained quietly on guard
+till she left the nest with her joyful call, when he joined her, and
+away they went together, crying, "te-o-tum, te! te!" till out of sight
+and hearing. There was a joyousness of manner in this pair that gave a
+festive air to even so prosaic a performance as going for food. The
+source of supplies, as I soon discovered, was a bit of neglected ground
+between a buckwheat patch and a barn, where grass and weeds of several
+sorts flourished. Here each bird pulled down by its weight a stalk of
+meadow or other grass, and spent some time feasting upon its seeds.
+
+But madam was a timid little soul; she reminded me constantly of some
+bigger folk I have known. She wanted her gay cavalier always within
+call, and he responded to her demands nobly, becoming more domestic than
+one would imagine possible for such a restless, light-hearted sprite.
+After the young house-mistress settled herself to her sitting, she often
+lifted her head above the edge of her nest, and uttered a strangely
+thrilling and appealing cry, which I think is only heard in the
+nesting-time. He always replied instantly, in tenderest tones, and came
+at once, sometimes from the other side of the orchard, singing as he
+flew, and perched in the apple-tree. If she wanted his escort to lunch,
+she joined him there, and after exchanging a few low remarks, they
+departed together. Occasionally, however, she seemed to be merely
+nervous, perhaps about some other bird who she fancied might be
+troublesome, though, in general, neither of the pair paid the slightest
+attention to birds who came about, even upon their own little tree.
+
+Often when the goldfinch came in answer to this call of his love, he
+flew around, at some height above the tree, in a circle of thirty or
+forty feet diameter, apparently to search out any enemy who might be
+annoying her. If he saw a bird, he drove him off, though in a
+perfunctory manner, as if it were done merely in deference to his lady's
+wishes, and not from any suspicion or jealousy. On these occasions, too,
+he came quite near me, stood fearless and calm, and studied me most
+sharply, doubtless to see if my intentions were innocent. Of course I
+looked as amiable and harmless as possible, and in a moment he decided
+that I was not dangerous, made some quiet remark to his fussy little
+partner, and flew away.
+
+Sometimes this conduct did not reassure the uneasy bird, and she called
+again. Then he brought some tidbit in his beak, went to the edge of the
+nest, and fed her. Then she was pacified; but do not mistake her, it was
+not hunger that prompted her actions; when she was hungry, she openly
+left her nest and went for food. It was, as I am convinced, the longing
+desire to know that he was near her, that he was still anxious to serve
+her, that he had not forgotten her in her long absence from his side.
+This may sound a little fanciful to one who has not studied birds
+closely, but she was so "human" in all her actions that I feel justified
+in judging of her motives exactly as I should judge had she measured
+five feet instead of five inches, and worn silk instead of feathers.
+
+The goldfinch need not have worried about her mate, for he spent most of
+his time within a few feet of her, and more absolutely loyal one could
+not be. His most common perch was a neighboring tree, though in a heavy
+beating rain he frequently crouched on the lowest branch of the plum
+itself. Now and then he rested on a pile of boards beside the farm road
+already spoken of, and again he took his post on a very tall ash, with
+only a few limbs at the top, where his body looked like a dot against
+the blue, and he could oversee the whole country around. Wherever he
+might be, he sat all puffed out, silent and motionless, evidently just
+waiting. Sometimes he took occasion to plume himself very carefully,
+oftener he did nothing, but held himself in readiness to answer any call
+from the plum-tree, and to accompany the sitter out to dinner.
+
+This bird was an enchanting singer. During courtship, and while his mate
+was sitting, he often poured out a song that was nothing less than an
+ecstasy. It was delivered on the wing, and not in his usual wave-like
+manner of flight, but sailing slowly around and around, very much as a
+bobolink does, singing rapturously, without pause or break. The quality
+of the music, too, was strikingly like bobolink notes, and the whole
+performance was exquisite.
+
+The little sitter soon became accustomed to my presence. When out of her
+nest, she sometimes came to the tree over my head, and answered when I
+spoke to her. In this way we carried on quite a long conversation, I
+imitating, so far as I was able, her own charming "sweet," and she
+replying in varied utterances, which, alas! were Greek to me.
+
+I longed to watch the lovely and loving pair through their nesting; to
+see their rapture over their nestlings, their tender care and training,
+and the first flight of the goldfinch babies. But the inexorable
+task-master of us all, who proverbially "waits for no man," hurried off
+these last precious days of July with painful eagerness, and thrust
+before me the first of August, with the hot and dusty journey set down
+for that day, long before I was ready for it.
+
+So I did not see the end of their love and labor myself, but the bird's
+wisdom in the selection of a site for her nursery was proved to be
+greater than mine, who had ventured to criticise her, by the fact that
+the nest, as I have been assured, escaped the young eyes of the
+neighborhood, and turned out its full complement of birdlings to add to
+next summer's beauty and song.
+
+
+
+
+XXVI.
+
+SOLITARY THE THRUSH.
+
+
+        "Solitary the thrush,
+  The hermit, withdrawn to himself,
+  Sings by himself a song."
+
+Thus says the poet, with no less truth than beauty. No description could
+better express the spirit of the bird, the retiring habit and the love
+of quiet for which not alone the hermit, but the three famous singers of
+the thrush family are remarkable. We should indeed be shocked were it
+otherwise, for there is an indefinable quality in the tones of this
+trio, the hermit, wood, and tawny, that stirs the soul to its depths,
+and one can hardly conceive of them as mingling their notes with other
+singers, or becoming in any way familiar. In this peculiar power no
+bird-voice in our part of the world can compare with theirs. The brown
+thrush ranks high as a musician, the mockingbird leads the world, in the
+opinion of its lovers, and the winter wren thrills one to the heart. Yet
+no bird song so moves the spirit, no other--it seems to me--so
+intoxicates its hearer with rapture, as the solemn chant of "the hermit
+withdrawn to himself."
+
+"Whenever a man hears it," says our devoted lover of Nature, Thoreau,
+"he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it there is
+a new world, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him."
+
+One might quote pages of rhapsody from poets and prose writers, yet to
+him who has not drunk of the enchantment, they would be but words; they
+would touch no chord that had not already been thrilled by the marvelous
+strain itself.
+
+My first acquaintance in the beautiful family was the wood-thrush, and
+the study of his charms of voice and character filled me with love for
+the whole bird tribe. He frequented the places I also preferred, the
+quiet nooks and out of the way corners of a large city park. At that
+time I thought no bird note on earth could equal his; but a year or two
+later, on the shore of Lake George, I fell under the magical sway of
+another voice, whose few notes were exceedingly simple in arrangement,
+but full of the strangely thrilling power characteristic of the thrush
+family.
+
+Four years passed, at first in search of the owner of the "wandering
+voice" that had bewitched me, and when I had found it to be the tawny
+thrush or veery, in study of the attractive singer himself, which made
+me an enthusiastic lover of him also. But the "shy and hidden" bird,
+the hermit, enthroned by those who know him far above the others, I had
+rarely seen and never clearly heard. Far-off snatches I had gathered, a
+few of the louder notes had reached me from distant woods, or from far
+up the mountain side; but I had never been satisfied.
+
+There appeared almost a fatality about my hearing this bird. No matter
+how common his song in the neighborhood, no sooner did I go there than
+he retired to the secluded recesses of his choice. He always had "just
+been singing," but had mysteriously stopped. My search was much longer
+than, and quite as disappointing as Mr. Burroughs's search through
+English lanes for a singing nightingale.
+
+Last spring one of the strongest attractions that drew me to a lovely
+spot in Northern New York was the assurance that the hermit was a
+constant visitor. I went, and the same old story met me. Before this
+year the hermit had always been with them. The song of the veery was my
+morning and evening inspiration, but his shy brother had apparently
+taken his departure for parts unknown.
+
+"We will go to Sunset Hill," said my friend. "We always hear them there
+at sunset."
+
+That evening after an early tea, we started for the promised land. The
+single-file procession through the charming wood paths consisted of our
+host as protector on the return in the dark, the big dog--his mistress's
+body-guard--his mistress, an enthusiastic bird-lover, and myself.
+
+The road was all the way through the woods, then lovely with the glow of
+the western sun, which reached far under the branches, gilded the trunks
+of the trees, and made a fresh picture at every turn. At the further
+side of the woods was a grass-covered hill which we ascended, eager to
+treat our eyes to the sunset, and our ears to the hermit songs. The sun
+went down serenely, without a cloud to reflect his glory, but the whole
+pleasant country at our feet was illuminated by his parting rays.
+
+And hark! a hermit began "air-o-ee!" Instantly everything else was
+forgotten, although the bird was far away.
+
+"He will come nearer," whispered my comrade, and we waited in silence.
+Several singers were within hearing, but all at a tantalizing remoteness
+that allowed us to hear the louder notes, and constantly to realize what
+we were losing.
+
+We lingered, loath to abandon hope, till the deepening shadows reminded
+us of the woods to be passed through; but no bird came nearer than that
+maddening distance. In despair we turned our faces homeward at last;
+several times on the way we paused, lured by an ecstatic note, but
+every one too far off to be completely heard.
+
+In our quiet walk back through the dark woods I accepted my evident
+fate, that I was not to be blessed with hermit music this season; but I
+made a private resolve to find next year a "hermit neighborhood," where
+birds should be warranted to sing, if I had to take a tent and camp out
+in a swamp.
+
+June passed away in delightful bird-study, and July followed quickly.
+Nests and songs in plenty rewarded our search. Every day had been full.
+Nothing had been wanting to fill our cup of content, except the
+longed-for song of the hermit; and I had been so absorbed I had almost
+ceased to regret it.
+
+With the last days of July everything was changed about us. The world
+was full of bird babies. Infant voices rang out from every tangle;
+flutters of baby wings stirred every bush; the woods echoed to anxious
+"pips," and "smacks," and "quits," of uneasy parents working for dear
+life. We had been so occupied with our study of these charming
+youngsters, that we bethought ourselves, only as one after another
+strange warbler appeared upon the scene, that migrating time had
+arrived, the wonderful procession to the summer-land had begun.
+
+This, alas! I could not stay to see. And if one must go, it were better
+to take leave before getting entangled in the toils of the warblers, to
+be driven wild by the numberless shades of yellow and olive, to go
+frantic over stripes and spots, and bars, and to wear out patience and
+the Manual, trying to discover what particular combination of Latin
+syllables scientists have bestowed upon this or that flitting atom in
+feathers. Before the student is out of bed, a new warbler-note will
+distract her; in the twilight some tiny bird will fly over her head with
+an unfamiliar twitter; each and every one will rouse her to eager desire
+to see it, to name it.
+
+Why have we such a rage for labeling and cataloguing the beautiful
+things of Nature? Why can I not delight in a bird or flower, knowing it
+by what it is to me, without longing to know what it has been to some
+other person? What pleasure can it afford to one not making a scientific
+study of birds to see such names as "the blue and yellow-throated
+warbler," "the chestnut-headed golden warbler," "the yellow-bellied,
+red-poll warbler," attached to the smallest and daintiest beauties of
+the woods?
+
+Musing upon this and other mysteries, I followed my friend up the
+familiar paths one day, looking for some young birds whose strange cries
+we had noted. It was a gray morning, and all the tree trunks were grim
+and dark, with no variety in coloring. The sounds we were following led
+us through some unused roads entirely grown up with jewel-weed, part of
+it five feet high, and thickly hung with the yellow flower from which it
+takes its name.
+
+It had rained in the night, and every leaf was adorned with minute drops
+like gems. We parted the stems carefully and passed through, though it
+seemed to us like wading in deep water, and, in spite of our caution, we
+were well sprinkled from the dripping leaves. Just as we stepped out of
+our green sea, the low calls we were trying to locate ceased. We walked
+slowly on until we were attracted by a rustling in the dry leaves, and
+then we turned to see two young thrushes foraging about in silence by
+themselves. They were not very shy, but looked at us with innocent baby
+eyes as we drew near and examined them. We saw the color and the
+markings and the peculiar movement of the tail characteristic of the
+hermit. There could be no doubt that these were hermit babies. We were
+delighted to see them. I never feel that I know a bird family till I
+have seen the young. But my pleasure was sadly marred by the reflection
+that where there were babies must have been a nest and a singer, and we
+had not heard his voice.
+
+The last Sunday of my stay came, all too soon. It was a glorious day,
+and, as usual, the two bird-lovers turned their steps toward the woods.
+Everything seemed at rest and silent. We paused a while in a part of the
+forest in which we had seen some strange phases of bird life, and had
+christened the "Bewitched Corner." A gentle breeze set all the leaves to
+fluttering; far off a woodpecker drummed his salute to his fellows;
+beyond the trees we could hear the indigo bird singing; but nothing
+about us was stirring. The wood-pewee was unheard, and even the vireo
+seemed to have finished his endless song and gone his way.
+
+We passed on a few rods to a favorite resting place of our daily rounds,
+where my comrade always liked to stretch herself upon the big bole of a
+fallen tree in the broad sunshine, and I to seat myself at the foot of
+another tree in the shade. It was a spot
+
+              "where hours went their way
+  As softly as sweet dreams go down the night."
+
+As we approached this place a sound reached us that struck us dumb; it
+was a hermit thrush not far off. Silently we stole up the gentle hill
+and seated ourselves.
+
+"At last! at last!" I cried in my heart, as I leaned back against my
+tree to listen.
+
+Then the glorious anthem began again; it rose and swelled upon the air;
+it filled the woods,--
+
+  "And up by mystical chords of song
+     The soul was lifted from care and pain."
+
+Though not in sight, the bird was quite near, so that we heard every
+note, so enchanting! so inimitable! For ten or fifteen minutes he poured
+out the melody, while our hearts fairly stood still. Then he stopped,
+and we heard the thrush "chuck" and the hermit call, which is different
+from other thrushes, being something between a squawk and a mew. Whether
+this were his conversation with his mate we could only guess, for we
+dared not move, hardly indeed to breathe.
+
+After a pause the bird began again, and for one perfect hour we sat
+there motionless, entranced, and took our fill of his matchless
+rhapsody. I longed inexpressibly to see the enchanter, though I dared
+not stir for fear of startling him. Perhaps my urgent desire drew him;
+at any rate he came at last within sight, stood a few minutes on the low
+branch of a tree and looked at me, lifting and dropping his expressive
+tail as he did so. Two or three low, rich notes bubbled out, as if he
+had half a mind to sing to me; but he thought better of it and dived off
+the branch into the bushes. We rose to go.
+
+"This only was lacking," I said. "This crowns my summer. I ask no more,
+and tomorrow I go."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  American Goldfinch:
+    bewitching manners, 253.
+    devotion of the male, 255, 256.
+    difficulty of watching, 253.
+    nervous sitter, a, 256.
+    nest, a second, 252.
+    neat building, 248, 249, 251, 253.
+    nesting ways, 244, 254.
+    queer scenes, 245, 246, 247.
+    song, 257.
+    talk with me, a, 257.
+    tragedy again, 250.
+    wooing, 244, 247.
+
+  Black and White creeper, 110.
+
+  Black-throated Blue Warbler:
+    delight in nest, 166.
+    hard to study, 164.
+    nest and mate, 165.
+    song, 163.
+    studies me, 168.
+    vain search for, 169.
+    young, 170.
+
+  Bluejay, the young, 77.
+    appearance of, 89.
+    description of, 91.
+    food as bait, 93.
+    interest of neighbors, 95.
+    not afraid, 92.
+    old birds to the rescue, 94.
+    stray youngster, a, 93.
+
+  Bobolink, 139.
+    attack, 152.
+    cries, strange, 139, 140.
+    disturbed, 151.
+    manners, 139.
+    musical call, 153.
+    song, 141, 144.
+    wiles, 150.
+
+
+  Cedar Birds, 143.
+
+  Chestnut-sided Warbler, 184, 187.
+    adopted infant, 230.
+
+  Chipping Sparrow, 173.
+
+  Crow, the parents, 240, 242.
+    two sides to the question, 242.
+    the young, 236.
+    alighting, 238.
+    coaxing ways, 238.
+    cry, a strange, 237.
+    efforts to learn, 239.
+    experimenting in food, 240.
+    object lesson, an, 241.
+
+  Cuckoo, the Black Billed, 190.
+    curious performance, 194.
+    male, the, 192.
+    mother tactics, the, 199.
+    nest, 191.
+    nest deserted, 198.
+    relieving the sitter, 192.
+    sitting bird, the, 191.
+    struck dumb, 196.
+    ventriloquism, 192.
+    young, 194.
+
+  Curiosity of Birds, 4.
+
+
+  Golden-winged Woodpecker, or Flicker:
+    cry of young, 40, 44.
+    dress, 36.
+    feeding, 39, 40, 43.
+    flight of young, 46.
+    manners, 35, 38.
+    nest, 34.
+    nest deserted, 47.
+    preparing to leave, 42, 43, 45.
+    setting house in order, 101.
+    teaching the young, 134.
+    ventriloquism, 102.
+    young appear, 39.
+
+  Gray Squirrel:
+    cry of, 178.
+    poacher, 207.
+
+  Great-crested Fly-catcher, 227.
+
+
+  Hermit Thrush, 259.
+    search for, 262.
+    shyness of, 261.
+    song, 266.
+    voice, 259.
+    young, 265.
+
+  Humming Bird as poacher, 207.
+
+
+  Insects, destruction of, 18, 23.
+
+
+  Junco, nest, 132.
+    young, 133.
+
+
+  Kingbird:
+    bathing, 26.
+    character, 3, 12, 17.
+    curious antics, 232.
+    distinguishing marks, 14.
+    English sparrow annoyance, 12.
+    feeding, 21, 22, 25.
+    greeting to mate, 8.
+    nest of, 2.
+    nesting habits, 9, 20.
+    night perch, 14.
+    oriole encounter, 5.
+    preparing to sit, 7.
+    robin encounter, 6, 10.
+    sitting, 13.
+    song, 14.
+    treatment of young robin, 31.
+    young out, 17, 19.
+
+  Kingbird, the young:
+    appearance above the nest, 22.
+    attachment to each other, 24.
+    dress of, 25.
+    first flight, 28.
+    first night out of nest, 29.
+    last view, 32.
+    leaving the nest, 26.
+    migrating cry, 27, 29,
+    preparing for flight, 34.
+    reception of strangers, 30.
+    vireo impertinence, 31.
+    voice, 23.
+
+
+  Mephitis Family, 156.
+
+
+  Oven Bird, Golden Crowned Thrush:
+    accident to nest, 177.
+    good sense of, 178.
+    nest, 177.
+    song, 177.
+
+
+  Partridge, a sitting, 80.
+
+  Phoebe, 223.
+    manners, 224.
+    strange performance, 225.
+
+
+  Red-headed Woodpecker, 211, 223.
+    after berries, 215, 219.
+    comical attitudes, 216.
+    feeding on the ground, 212.
+    fly-catching, 217.
+    frolics of young, 219.
+    greeting to mate, 216.
+    insulted by robin, 214.
+    on the raspberries, 214.
+    poaching, 213.
+    robin surveillance, 216.
+    settling with the robin, 215.
+    young, 217.
+
+  Redstart
+    and chestnut-sided warbler, 184.
+    caution of, 54.
+    curiosity, 111.
+    description, 50.
+    hostility, 49.
+    in rain, 53.
+    nest, 49, 59.
+    nesting habits, 51, 58.
+    out of nest, 56.
+    out of shell, 53.
+    treatment of young, 55.
+    young identified, 189.
+
+  Red Squirrel, 234.
+
+  Robin, a saucy, 70.
+    morning song, 173.
+    on guard, 216.
+    special policeman, 226.
+    subdued, 37.
+    surveillance, 87.
+    takes a hint, 51.
+
+  Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 86.
+
+
+  Scarlet Tanager:
+    bathing, 161.
+    nest, 159.
+    shyness, 160.
+    young, 162.
+
+  Song Sparrow, 173.
+
+  Sparrow Hawk, 250.
+
+
+  Towhee Bunting, young, 105.
+
+
+  Veery, Wilson's Thrush:
+    bleating cry, 111.
+    calls and cries, 125.
+    cry of young, 107.
+    description of young, 113.
+    distress of parents, 120, 124, 126.
+    empty nest, 120.
+    friendliness, 126.
+    humorist, 127.
+    mother, the, 109.
+    nest destroyed, 117.
+    nest seeking, 115.
+    nests found, 116, 118, 119, 124.
+    solitude, love of, 125.
+    song, 99, 106, 260.
+
+
+  Warbler life, problems in, 184, 264.
+
+  Wood-pewee, 68.
+    nest, 131.
+    song, 70.
+
+  Wood-thrush, 260.
+
+
+  Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, or Sapsucker, 173, 201.
+    drumming habit, 207.
+    food habits, 203.
+    frolics, 205.
+    manners, 203, 204.
+    nest, 209.
+    traps, 204.
+    voice, 202.
+    young, 135, 209, 210.
+
+  Young Birds:
+    black-throated blue warbler, 170.
+    bluebird, 72.
+    brown thrush, 61.
+    chestnut-sided warbler, 229.
+    crow, 236.
+    crow blackbird, 228.
+    cuckoo, 194.
+    downy woodpecker, 229.
+    hermit thrush, 265.
+    in rain, 175.
+    kingbird, 22, 232.
+    learning to flock, 68.
+    other young birds, 74, 233, 263.
+    out, 23.
+    red-headed woodpecker, 217, 233.
+    scarlet tanager, 162.
+    swallow, 65.
+    towhee bunting, 105.
+    veery, 113.
+    Wilson's thrush, 113.
+    woodpecker, 175.
+    wood-pewee, 71.
+    yellow-bellied woodpecker, 135, 209.
+
+
+
+
+OUT-DOOR BOOKS
+
+Selected from the Publications of
+
+Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
+
+_4 Park St., Boston; 11 East 17th St., New York._
+
+
+Adirondack Stories. By P. DEMING. 18mo, 75 cents.
+
+A-Hunting of the Deer; How I Killed a Bear; Lost in the Woods; Camping
+Out; A Wilderness Romance; What Some People call Pleasure. By CHARLES
+DUDLEY WARNER. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, _net_.
+
+The American Horsewoman. By ELIZABETH KARR. Illustrated. New Edition.
+16mo, $1.25.
+
+A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. By HENRY D. THOREAU. 12mo,
+gilt top, $1.50.
+
+Birds and Bees. By JOHN BURROUGHS. With an Introduction by MARY E. BURT,
+of Chicago. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, _net_.
+
+Birds and Poets, with Other Papers. By JOHN BURROUGHS. 16mo, gilt top,
+$1.25.
+
+Birds in the Bush. By BRADFORD TORREY. 16mo, $1.25.
+
+Birds through an Opera-Glass. By FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. In Riverside
+Library for Young People. 16mo, 75 cents.
+
+Bird-Ways. By OLIVE THORNE MILLER. 16mo, $1.25.
+
+Cape Cod. By HENRY D. THOREAU. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.
+
+Country By-Ways. By SARAH ORNE JEWETT. 18mo, gilt top, $1.25.
+
+Drift-Weed. Poems. By CELIA THAXTER. 18mo, full gilt, $1.50.
+
+Early, Spring in Massachusetts. Selections from the Journals of HENRY D.
+THOREAU. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.
+
+Excursions in Field and Forest. By HENRY D. THOREAU. 12mo, gilt top,
+$1.50.
+
+CONTENTS: Biographical Sketch, by R.W. Emerson; Natural History of
+Massachusetts; A Walk to Wachusett; The Landlord; A Winter Walk; The
+Succession of Forest Trees; Walking; Autumnal Tints; Wild Apples; Night
+and Moonlight.
+
+Favorite Flies. By MARY ORVIS MARBURY. With colored plates. Square 8vo.
+(_In Press_).
+
+Fishing with the Fly. A volume of original Essays on Angling. By Lovers
+of the Art. Edited by CHARLES F. ORVIS and A. NELSON CHENEY. With
+colored Plates of 149 standard varieties of Flies. With Map and Index.
+Crown 8vo, $2.50.
+
+Fresh Fields. English Sketches. By JOHN BURROUGHS. 16mo, gilt top,
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+
+The Gypsies. By CHARLES G. LELAND. With Sketches of the English, Welsh,
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+
+Homestead Highways. By H.M. SYLVESTER. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.
+
+In Nesting Time. By OLIVE THORNE MILLER. 16mo, $1.25.
+
+In the Wilderness. Adirondack Essays. By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. New
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+
+Land of the Lingering Snow. Chronicles of a Stroller in New England from
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+Little Brothers of the Air. By OLIVE THORNE MILLER. 16mo, $1.25.
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+Locusts and Wild Honey. By JOHN BURROUGHS. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25.
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+The Maine Woods. By HENRY D. THOREAU. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.
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+My Garden Acquaintance and a Moosehead Journal. By JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.
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+My Summer in a Garden. By CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER. 16mo, $1.00.
+
+Nantucket Scraps. Being the Experiences of an Off-Islander, in Season
+and out of Season. By JANE G. AUSTIN. 16mo, $1.50.
+
+Nature. "Little Classics," Vol. XVI. 18mo, $1.00.
+
+Nature, together with Love, Friendship, Domestic Life, Success,
+Greatness, and Immortality. By R.W. EMERSON. 32mo, 75 cents; _School
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+
+On Horseback. A Tour in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. With
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+16mo, $1.25.
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+Pepacton. By JOHN BURROUGHS. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25.
+
+Poems. By CELIA THAXTER. 18mo, full gilt, $1.50.
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+Poetic Interpretation of Nature. By Principal J.C. SHAIRP. 16mo, gilt
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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Little Brothers of the Air, by Olive Thorne Miller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Little Brothers of the Air
+
+Author: Olive Thorne Miller
+
+Release Date: November 16, 2008 [EBook #27277]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class='bbox'>
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="advert">
+<tr><td align='center'><span class="oldeng">By Olive Thorne Miller.</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>BIRD-WAYS. 16mo, $1.25.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>IN NESTING TIME. 16mo, $1.25.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR. $1.25.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN &amp; CO.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'><span class="smcap">Boston and New York.</span></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<h1>LITTLE BROTHERS OF<br />
+THE AIR<br />
+<br /></h1>
+<p class="t1"><br /><br /><br />BY</p>
+
+<p class="t2">OLIVE THORNE MILLER<br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/i003.jpg" width="150" height="189" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="t1"><br /><br /><br /><br />BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br />
+HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY<br />
+<span class="oldeng1">The Riverside Press, Cambridge</span><br />
+1893<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<p class="center">Copyright, 1892,<br />
+<span class="smcap">By H.M. MILLER.</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>All rights reserved.</i><br />
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+<i>The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.</i><br />
+Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton &amp; Company.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>INTRODUCTORY.</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Some</span> of the chapters of this little book were written in 1888, on the
+shore of the Great South Bay, Long Island; others in the northern part
+of New York State, known to its residents as the "Black River Country,"
+a year or two later. Part of them have been published in The Atlantic
+Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, The Independent and other papers.</p>
+
+<p>The nomenclature in the Table of Contents is that adopted by the
+American Ornithological Society.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+<span class="ampm">OLIVE THORNE MILLER.</span>
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr><td align='center' colspan='3'><big>ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY.</big></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right' colspan='3'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Kingbird's Nest</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Kingbird. <i>Tyrannus tyrannus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">A Chronicle of Three Little Kings</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Kingbird. <i>Tyrannus tyrannus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Babes in the Wood</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Flicker. <i>Colaptes auratus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">Home Life of the Redstart</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>American Redstart. <i>Setophaga ruticilla.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">When Nesting is over</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Thrasher. <i>Harporhynchus rufus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>White-bellied Swallow. <i>Tachycineta bicolor.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Wood Pewee. <i>Contopus virens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Bluebird. <i>Sialia sialis.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">In Search of the Bluejay</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_76">76</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Bluejay. <i>Cyanocitta cristata.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">In the Wood Lot</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Bluejay. <i>Cyanocitta cristata.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>VIII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Bluejay Baby</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Bluejay. <i>Cyanocitta cristata.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center' colspan='3'><big>IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY.</big></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>IX.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">That Witching Song</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Wilson's Thrush. <i>Turdus fuscescens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>X.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Veery Mother</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Wilson's Thrush. <i>Turdus fuscescens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XI.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Tawny Thrush's Brood</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Wilson's Thrush. <i>Turdus fuscescens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">A Meadow Nest</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Wilson's Thrush. <i>Turdus fuscescens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">A June Round of Calls</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_130">130</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Wood Pewee. <i>Contopus virens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Junco. <i>Junco hyemalis.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Flicker. <i>Colaptes auratus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Redstart. <i>Setophaga ruticilla.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Sapsucker. <i>Sphyrapicus varius.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIV.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">A Bobolink Rhapsody</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Bobolink. <i>Dolichonyx oryzivorus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XV.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Bobolink's Nest</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Bobolink. <i>Dolichonyx oryzivorus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVI.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Tanager's Nest</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Scarlet Tanager. <i>Piranga erythromelas.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Wiles of a Warbler</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Black-throated Blue. <i>Dendroica c&#339;rulescens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">A Rainy-day Tramp</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Oven-bird. <i>Seiurus aurocapillus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XIX.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Vagaries of a Warbler</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Redstart. <i>Setophaga ruticilla.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Chestnut-sided W. <i>Dendroica pensylvanica.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XX.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">A Clever Cuckoo</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Black-billed C. <i>Coccyzus erythrophthalmus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXI.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">Two Little Drummers</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Sapsucker. <i>Sphyrapicus varius.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Red-headed Woodpecker. <i>Melanerpes erythrocephalus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">From My Window</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Ph&#339;be. <i>Sayornis ph&#339;be.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Robin. <i>Merula migratoria.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Great-crested Fly-catcher. <i>Myiarchus crinitus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Purple Grackle. <i>Quiscalus quiscula.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Downy Woodpecker. <i>Dryobates pubescens.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Chestnut-sided Warbler. <i>Dendroica pensylvanica.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Kingbird. <i>Tyrannus tyrannus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXIII.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">The Comical Crow Baby</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Common Crow. <i>Corvus americanus.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXIV.</td><td class="td2"> A <span class="smcap">Midsummer Wooing</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>American Goldfinch. <i>Spinus tristis.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXV.</td><td class="td2"> A <span class="smcap">Plum-tree Romance</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>American Goldfinch. <i>Spinus tristis.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'>XXVI.</td><td class="td2"> <span class="smcap">Solitary the Thrush</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='td1' colspan='3'>Hermit Thrush. <i>Turdus aonalaschk&#339; pallasii.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td class="td2"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#INDEX">269</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><br /><br /><br /><br />ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY.<br /><br /><br /><br /></h2>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<div class="poem">
+<p class="noin">
+Precious qualities of silence haunt<br />
+Round these vast margins ministrant.<br />
+<br />
+'T is here, 't is here, thou canst unhand thy heart<br />
+And breathe it free, and breathe it free<br />
+By rangy marsh, in lone sea-liberty.<br />
+<br /></p>
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Sidney Lanier.</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2>LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR.</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KINGBIRD'S NEST.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">To</span> study a nest is to make an acquaintance. However familiar the bird,
+unless the student has watched its ways during the only domestic period
+of its life,&mdash;nesting time,&mdash;he has still something to learn. In fact,
+he has almost everything to learn, for into those few weeks is crowded a
+whole lifetime of emotions and experiences which fully bring out the
+individuality of the bird. Family life is a test of character, no less
+in the nest than in the house. Moreover, to a devotee of the science
+that some one has aptly called Ornithography, nothing is so attractive.
+What hopes it holds out! Who can guess what mysteries shall be
+disclosed, what interesting episodes of life shall be seen about that
+charmed spot?</p>
+
+<p>To find a newly built nest is the first June work of the bird-student,
+and this year on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> Great South Bay a particularly inviting one
+presented itself, on the top branch of a tall oak-tree near my "inn of
+rest." It was in plain sight from the veranda. The builder evidently
+cared nothing for concealment, and relied, with reason, upon its
+inaccessible position for safety. To be sure, as days went by and oak
+leaves grew, a fair screen for the little dwelling was not lacking; but
+summer breezes were kind, and often blew them aside, and, better still,
+from other points of view the nest was never hidden.</p>
+
+<p>To whom, then, did the nest belong? I hoped to the kingbird, who at that
+moment sat demurely upon the picket fence below, apparently interested
+only in passing insects; and while I looked the question was answered by
+Madame Tyrannis herself, who came with the confidence of ownership,
+carrying a beakful of building material, and arranging it with great
+pains inside the structure. This was satisfactory, for I did not know
+the kingbird in domestic life.</p>
+
+<p>For several days it seemed uncertain whether the kingbirds would ever
+really occupy the nest, so spasmodic was the work upon it. Now one of
+the pair came with a bit of something, placed it, tried its effect this
+way and that, and then disappeared; while for hours every day both might
+be seen about the place, hunting insects and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>taking their ease on the
+fence as if no thought of nesting ever stirred their wise little heads.
+The last addition to the domicile was curious: a soft white feather from
+the poultry yard, which was fastened up on the edge, and stood there
+floating in the breeze; a white banner of peace flung out to the world
+from her castle walls.</p>
+
+<p>Peace from a kingbird? Direful tales are told of this bird: "he is
+pugnacious," says one writer; "he fights everybody," adds another; "he
+is a coward," remarks a third. Science has dubbed him tyrant
+(<i>Tyrannis</i>), and his character is supposed to be settled. But may there
+not be two sides to the story? We shall see. One kingbird, at least,
+shall be studied sympathetically; we shall try to enter his life, to
+judge him fairly, and shall above all</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 11.5em;">"bring not</span><br />
+The fancies found in books,<br />
+Leave author's eyes, and fetch our own."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Nearly two months that small dwelling on the oak was watched, day after
+day, early and late, in storm and in sunshine; now I know at least one
+family of kingbirds, and what I know I shall honestly tell, "nothing
+extenuating."</p>
+
+<p>The house was built, the season was passing, yet housekeeping did not
+begin. The birds, indeed, appeared to have abandoned the tree, and days
+went by in which I could not see that either<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> visited it. But the nest
+was not deserted, for all that; the curiosity and impertinence of the
+neighbors were simply amazing. (Perhaps the kingbird has some reason to
+be pugnacious!) No sooner was that tenement finished than, as promptly
+as if they had received cards to a house-warming, visitors began to
+come. First to show himself was an orchard oriole, who was in the habit
+of passing over the yard every day and stopping an hour or more in the
+neighborhood, while he scrambled over the trees, varying his lunches
+with a rich and graceful song. Arrived this morning in the kingbird
+tree, he began his usual hunt over the top branch, when suddenly his eye
+fell upon the kingbird cradle. He paused, cast a wary glance about, then
+dropped to a lower perch, his singing ended, his manner guilty. Nearer
+and nearer he drew, looking cautiously about and moving in perfect
+silence. Still the owner did not come, and at last the stranger stood
+upon the edge. What joy! He looked that mansion over from foundation to
+banner fluttering in the wind; he examined closely its construction;
+with head turned over one side, he criticised its general effect, and
+apparently did not think much of it; he gratified to the full his
+curiosity, and after about one minute's study flew to the next tree, and
+resumed his singing.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p><p>The next arrival was a pewee, whose own nest was nearly built, in a
+wild-cherry tree not far off. The fence under the oak was his usual
+perch, and it was plain that he made his first call with "malice
+aforethought;" for, disdaining the smallest pretense of interest in it,
+he flew directly to the nest, hovered beneath it, and pulled out some
+part of the building material that pleased his fancy,&mdash;nothing less than
+pure thievery.</p>
+
+<p>Among the occasional visitors to the yard were two American goldfinches,
+or thistle-birds, in bright yellow and black plumage, both males. They
+also went to the new homestead in the oak, inspected it, chatted over it
+in their sweet tones, and then passed on. It began to look as though the
+nest were in the market for any one to choose, and the string of company
+was not yet ended.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the goldfinches had passed by, there alighted a gay Baltimore
+oriole, who, not content with looking at the new castle in the air, must
+needs try it. He actually stepped into the nest and settled down as if
+sitting. Who knows but he was experimenting to see if this simple,
+wide-open cradle wouldn't do as well for oriole babies as for kingbirds?
+Certainly it was a curious performance. It made an impression on him
+too, for the next day he came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> again; and this time he picked at it, and
+seemed to be changing its interior arrangement, but he carried nothing
+away when he flew. Even after sitting began, this oriole paid two more
+visits to the nest which so interested him. On the first occasion, the
+owner was at home, and gave him instant notice that the place was no
+longer on view. He retired, but, being no coward, and not choosing to
+submit to dictation, he came again. This time, a fly-up together, a
+clinch in the air, with loud and offensive remarks, cured him of further
+desire to call.</p>
+
+<p>More persistent than any yet mentioned was a robin. Heretofore, strange
+to say, the guests had all been males, but this caller was the mother of
+a young brood in the next yard. She came in her usual way, alighted on a
+low branch, ran out upon it, hopped to the next higher, and so proceeded
+till she reached the nest. The kingbird happened to be near it himself,
+and drove her away in an indifferent manner, as if this interloper were
+of small account. The robin went, of course, but returned, and, perching
+close to the object of interest, leaned over and looked at it as long as
+she chose, while the owner stood calmly by on a twig and did not
+interfere. I know he was not afraid of the robin, as later events
+proved; and it really looked as if the pair deliberately delayed sitting
+to give the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> neighborhood a chance to satisfy its curiosity; as if they
+thus proclaimed to whom it might concern that there was to be a kingbird
+household, that they might view it at their leisure before it was
+occupied, but after that no guests were desired. Whatever the cause, the
+fact is, that once completed, the nest was almost entirely abandoned by
+the builders for several days, during which this neighborhood inspection
+went on. They even deserted their usual hunting-ground, and might
+generally be seen at the back of the house, awaiting their prey in the
+most unconcerned manner.</p>
+
+<p>However, time was passing, and one day Madame Tyrannis herself began to
+call, but fitfully. Sometimes she stayed about the nest one minute,
+sometimes five minutes, but was restless; picking at the walls,
+twitching the leaves that hung too near, rearranging the lining, trying
+it this way and that, as if to see how it fitted her figure, and how she
+should like it when she was settled. First she tried sitting with face
+looking toward the bay; then she jerked herself around, without rising,
+and looked awhile toward the house. She had as much trouble to get
+matters adjusted to her mind as if she had a houseful of furniture to
+place, with carpets to lay, curtains to hang, and the thousand and one
+"things" with which we bigger housekeepers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> cumber ourselves and make
+life a burden. This spasmodic visitation went on for days, and finally
+it was plain that sitting had begun. Still the birds of the vicinity
+were interested callers, and I began to think that one kingbird would
+not even protect his nest, far less justify his reputation by
+tyrannizing over the feathered world. But when his mate had seriously
+established herself, it was time for the head of the household to assume
+her defense, and he did.</p>
+
+<p>As usual, the kingbird united the characters of brave defender and
+tender lover. To his spouse his manners were charming. When he came to
+relieve her of her care, to give her exercise or a chance for luncheon,
+he greeted her with a few low notes, and alighted on a small leafless
+twig that curved up about a foot above the nest, and made a perfect
+watch-tower. She slipped off her seat and disappeared for about six
+minutes. During her absence he stayed at his post, sometimes changing
+his perch to one or other of half a dozen leafless branchlets in that
+part of the tree, and there sitting, silent and watchful, ready to
+interview any stranger who appeared. Upon her return he again saluted
+her with a few words, adding to them a lifting of wings and spreading of
+his beautiful tail that most comically suggested the bowing and
+hat-lifting of bigger gentlemen. In all their life together,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> even when
+the demands of three infants kept them busy from morning till night, he
+never forgot this little civility to his helpmate. If she alighted
+beside him on the fence, he rose a few inches above his perch, and flew
+around in a small circle while greeting her; and sometimes, on her
+return to the nest, he described a larger circle, talking (as I must
+call it) all the time. Occasionally, when she approached, he flew out to
+meet and come back with her, as if to escort her. Could this bird, to
+his mate so thoughtful and polite, be to the rest of the world the bully
+he is pictured? Did he, who for ten months of the year shows less
+curiosity about others, and attends more perfectly to his own business
+than any bird I have noticed, suddenly, at this crisis in his life,
+become aggressive, and during these two months of love and paternity and
+hard work, make war upon a peaceful neighborhood?</p>
+
+<p>I watched closely. There was not an hour of the day, often from four
+<span class="ampm">A.M.</span> to eight <span class="ampm">P.M.</span>, that I had not the kingbird and his nest directly in
+sight, and hardly a movement of his life escaped me. There he stood, on
+the fence under his tree, on a dead bush at the edge of the bay, or on
+the lowest limb of a small pear-tree in the yard. Sometimes he dashed
+into the air for his prey; sometimes he dropped to the ground to secure
+it; but oftenest, especially when baby<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> throats grew clamorous, he
+hovered over the rank grass on the low land of the shore, wings beating,
+tail wide spread, diving now and then for an instant to snatch a morsel;
+and every thirty minutes, as punctually as if he carried a watch in his
+trim white vest, he took a direct line for the home where his mate sat
+waiting.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after the little dame took possession of the nest, the
+kingbird had succeeded, without much trouble, in making most of his
+fellow-creatures understand that he laid claim to the upper branches of
+the oak, and was prepared to defend them against all comers, and they
+simply gave the tree a wide berth in passing.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently deceived by his former indifference, however, the robin above
+mentioned presumed to call somewhat later. This time she was received in
+a manner that plainly showed she was no longer welcome. She retired, but
+she expressed her mind freely for some time, sitting on the fence below.
+With true robin persistence she did not give it up, and she selected for
+her next call the dusk of evening, just before going to bed.</p>
+
+<p>This time both kingbirds flung themselves after her, and she left,
+"laughing" as she went. The kingbirds did not follow beyond their own
+borders, and the robin soon returned to the nearest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> tree, where she
+kept up the taunting "he! he! he!" a long time, seemingly with
+deliberate intention to insult or enrage her pursuers, but without
+success; for unless she came to their tree, the kingbirds paid her not
+the slightest attention.</p>
+
+<p>The last time the robin tried to be on friendly terms with her neighbor,
+I noticed her standing near him on the picket fence under his tree.
+There were not more than three pickets between them, and she was
+expostulating earnestly, with flirting tail and jerking wings, and with
+loud "tut! tut's," and "he! he's!" she managed to be very eloquent. Had
+he driven her from his nest? and was she complaining? I could only
+guess. The kingbird did not reply to her, but when she flew he followed,
+and she did not cease telling him what she thought of him as she flew,
+till out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>Strangest of all was the fact that, during the whole of this scene, her
+mate stood on the fence within a dozen feet, and looked on! Did he think
+her capable of managing her own affairs? Did he prefer to be on good
+terms with his peppery neighbor? or was it because with her it would be
+a war of words, while if he entered the arena it must be a fight? as we
+sometimes see, when a man goes home fighting drunk, every man of the
+neighborhood keeps out of sight,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> while all the women go out and help
+his wife to get him home. The most troublesome meddler was, as might be
+expected, an English sparrow. From the time when the first stick was
+laid till the babies were grown and had left the tree, that bird never
+ceased to intrude and annoy. He visited the nest when empty; he managed
+to have frequent peeps at the young; and notwithstanding he was driven
+off every time, he still hung around, with prying ways so exasperating
+that he well deserved a thrashing, and I wonder he did not get it. He
+was driven away repeatedly, and he was "picked off" from below, and
+pounced upon from above, but he never failed to return.</p>
+
+<p>Another visitor of whom the kingbird seemed suspicious was a purple crow
+blackbird, who every day passed over. This bird and the common crow were
+the only ones he drove away without waiting for them to alight; and if
+half that is told of them be true, he had reason to do so.</p>
+
+<p>With none of these intruders had the kingbird any quarrel when away from
+his nest. The blackbird, to whom he showed the most violence, hunted
+peacefully beside him on the grass all day; the robin alighted near him
+on the fence, as usual; the orioles scrambled over the neighboring
+trees, singing, and eating, as was their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> custom; even the English
+sparrow carried on his vulgar squabbles on his own branch of the oak all
+day; but to none of them did the kingbird pay the slightest attention.
+He simply and solely defended his own household.</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning the little dame took sitting very easy, fidgeting about
+in the nest, standing up to dress her feathers, stretching her neck to
+see what went on in the yard below, and stepping out upon a neighboring
+twig to rest herself. After a few days she settled more seriously to
+work, and became very quiet and patient. Her mate never brought food to
+her, nor did he once take her place in the nest; not even during a
+furious northeast gale that turned June into November, and lasted
+thirty-six hours, most of the time with heavy rain, when the top branch
+bent and tossed, and threatened every moment a catastrophe. In the
+house, fires were built and books and work brought out; but the
+bird-student, wrapped in heavy shawls, kept close watch from an open
+window, and noted well the bad-weather manners of Tyrannis. Madame sat
+very close, head to the northeast, and tail, narrowed to the width of
+one feather, pressed against a twig that grew up behind the nest. All
+through the storm, I think the head of the family remained in a
+sheltered part of the tree, but he did not come to the usual twigs which
+were so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> exposed. I know he was near, for I heard him, and occasionally
+saw him standing with body horizontal instead of upright, as usual, the
+better to maintain his position against the wind. At about the ordinary
+intervals the sitter left her nest, without so much as a leaf to cover
+it, and was absent perhaps half as long as common, but not once did her
+mate assume her post.</p>
+
+<p>How were this pair distinguished from each other, since there is no
+difference in their dress? First, by a fortunate peculiarity of marking;
+the male had one short tail feather, that, when he was resting, showed
+its white tip above the others, and made a perfectly distinct and (with
+a glass) plainly visible mark. Later, when I had become familiar with
+the very different manners of the pair, I did not need this mark to
+distinguish the male, though it remained <i>en evidence</i> all through the
+two months I had them under observation.</p>
+
+<p>During the period of sitting, life went on with great regularity. The
+protector of the nest perched every night in a poplar-tree across the
+yard, and promptly at half past four o'clock every morning began his
+matins. Surprised and interested by an unfamiliar song, I rose one day
+at that unnatural hour to trace it home. It was in that enchanting time
+when men are still asleep in their nests, and even "My Lord Sun"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> has
+not arisen from his; when the air is sweet and fresh, and as free from
+the dust of man's coming and going as if his tumults did not exist. It
+was so still that the flit of a wing was almost startling. The water
+lapped softly against the shore; but who can</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Write in a hook the morning's prime,<br />
+Or match with words that tender sky"?<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>The song that had called me up was a sweet though simple strain, and it
+was repeated every morning while his mate was separated from him by her
+nest duties. I can find no mention of it in books, but I had many
+opportunities to study it, and thus it was. It began with a low kingbird
+"Kr-r-r" (or rolling sound impossible to express by letters), without
+which I should not have identified it at first, and it ended with a very
+sweet call of two notes, five tones apart, the lower first, after a
+manner suggestive of the ph&#339;be&mdash;something like this:
+"Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-b&eacute;! Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-b&eacute;!" In the outset, and I think I
+heard the very first attempt, it resembled the initial efforts of
+cage-birds, when spring tunes their throats. The notes seemed hard to
+get out; they were weak, uncertain, fluttering, as if the singer were
+practicing something quite new. But as the days went by they grew strong
+and assured, and at last were a joyous and loud morning greeting. I
+don't know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> why I should be so surprised to hear a kingbird sing; for I
+believe that one of the things we shall discover, when we begin to study
+birds alive instead of dead, is that every one has a song, at least in
+spring, when, in the words of an enthusiastic bird-lover, "the smallest
+become poets, often sublime songsters." I have already heard several
+sing that are set down as lacking in that mode of expression.</p>
+
+<p>To return to my kingbird, struggling with his early song. After
+practicing perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, he left his perch, flew
+across the yard, and circled around the top bough, with his usual
+good-morning to his partner, who at once slipped off and went for her
+breakfast, while he stayed to watch the nest.</p>
+
+<p>This magic dawn could not last. It grew lighter; the sun was bestirring
+himself. I heard oars on the bay; and now that the sounds of men began,
+the robin mounted the fence and sang his waking song. The rogue!&mdash;he had
+been "laughing" and shouting for an hour. "Awake! awake!" he seemed to
+say; and on our dreamy beds we hear him, and think it the first sound of
+the new day. Then, too, came the jubilee of the English sparrow,
+welcoming the appearance of mankind, whose waste and improvidence supply
+so easily his larder. Why should he spend his time hunting insects? The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+kitchen will open, the dining-room follows, and crumbs are sure to
+result. He will wait, and meanwhile do his best to waken his purveyor.</p>
+
+<p>I found this to be the almost invariable programme of kingbird life at
+this period: after matins, the singer flew to the nest tree, and his
+spouse went to her breakfast; in a few seconds he dropped to the edge of
+the nest, looked long and earnestly at the contents, then flew to one of
+his usual perching-places near by, and remained in silence till he saw
+the little mother coming. During the day he relieved her at the
+intervals mentioned, and at night, when she had settled to rest, he
+stayed at his post on the fence till almost too dark to be seen, and
+then took his way, with a good-night greeting, to his sleeping-place on
+the poplar.</p>
+
+<p>Thus matters went through June till the 29th, when, at about four
+o'clock in the afternoon, there was an unusual stir about the kingbird
+castle. I saw that something had happened, and this must open a new
+chapter. But before beginning the chronicle of the kingbird babies, I
+should like to give my testimony about <i>one</i> member of the family. As a
+courteous and tender spouse, as a devoted father and a brave defender of
+his household, I know no one who outranks him. In attending to his own
+business and never meddling with others, he is unexcelled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> In regard to
+his fighting, he has driven many away from his tree, as do all birds,
+but he never sought a quarrel; and the only cases of anything like a
+personal encounter were with the two birds who insisted on annoying him.
+He is chivalrous to young birds not his own, as will appear in the story
+of his family. He is, indeed, usually silent, perhaps even solemn, but
+he may well be so; he has an important duty to perform in the world, and
+one that should bring him thanks and protection instead of scorn and a
+bad name. It is to reduce the number of man's worst enemies, the vast
+army of insects. What we owe to the fly-catchers, indeed, we can never
+guess, although, if we go on destroying them, we may have our eyes
+opened most thoroughly. Even if the most serious charge against the
+kingbird is true, that he eats bees, it were better that every bee on
+the face of the earth should perish than that his efficient work among
+other insects should be stopped.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2>
+
+<h3>A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">There</span> was</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Riot of roses and babel of birds,<br />
+All the world in a whirl of delight,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>when the three baby kingbirds opened their eyes to the June sunlight.
+Three weeks I had watched, if I had not assisted at, the rocking of
+their cradle, followed day by day the patient brooding, and carefully
+noted the manners and customs of the owners thereof. At last my long
+vigil was rewarded. It was near the end of a lovely June day, when June
+days were nearly over, that there appeared a gentle excitement in the
+kingbird family. The faithful sitter arose, with a peculiar cry that
+brought her mate at once to her side, and both looked eagerly together
+into the nest that held their hopes. Once or twice the little dame
+leaned over and made some arrangements within, and then suddenly she
+slipped back into her place, and her spouse flew away. But something had
+happened, it was plain to see; for from that moment she did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> sit so
+closely, her mate showed unusual interest in the nest, and both of them
+often stood upon the edge at the same time. That day was doubtless the
+birthday of the first little king.</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, the careful mother still sat on the nest part of every day,
+but that she continued to do, with ever-lengthening intervals, till
+every infant had grown up and left the homestead forever.</p>
+
+<p>All through the sitting the work of the head of the family had been
+confined to encouraging his partner with an early morning song and his
+cheerful presence during the day, and to guarding the nest while she
+sought her food; but now that her most fatiguing labor was over, his
+began. At first he took entire charge of the provision supply, while she
+kept her nurslings warm and quiet, which every mother, little or big,
+knows is of great importance. When the young father arrived with food,
+which he did frequently, his spouse stepped to the nearest twig and
+looked on with interest, while he leaned over and filled one little
+mouth, or at any rate administered one significant poke which must be
+thus interpreted. He did not stay long; indeed, he had not time, for
+this way of supplying the needs of a family is slow business; and
+although there were but three mouths to fill, three excursions and three
+hunts were required to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> fill them. In the early morning he seemed to
+have more leisure; at that time, the happy young couple stood one each
+side of the nest, and the silent listener would hear the gentle murmurs
+of what Victor Hugo calls "the airy dialogues of the nest." Ah, that our
+dull ears could understand!</p>
+
+<p>For some days the homestead was never left alone, and the summer breezes</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Softly rocked the babies three,<br />
+Nestled under the mother's wing,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>almost as closely as before they came out of the egg. But much of the
+time she sat on the edge, while her partner came and went, always
+lingering a moment to look in. It was pretty to see him making up his
+mind where to put the morsel, so small that it did not show in the beak.
+He turned his head one side and then the other, considered, decided, and
+at last thrust it in the selected mouth.</p>
+
+<p>The resting-time of the newly made matron was short; for when those
+youngsters were four days old&mdash;so fast do birdlings grow&mdash;the labor of
+both parents was required to keep them fed. Every ten minutes of the day
+one of the pair came to the nest: the father invariably alighted,
+deliberated, fed, and then flew; while the mother administered her
+mouthful, and then either slipped into the nest, covering her bantlings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+completely, or rested upon the edge for several minutes. There was
+always a marked difference in the conduct of the pair.</p>
+
+<p>Six days the kingbird babies were unseen from below; but on the seventh
+day of their life two downy gray caps were lifted above the edge of the
+dwelling, accompanied by two small yellow beaks, half open for what
+goods the gods might provide. After that event, whenever the tender
+mother sat on her nest, two&mdash;and later three&mdash;little heads showed
+plainly against her satiny white breast, as if they were resting there,
+making a lovely picture of motherhood.</p>
+
+<p>Not for many days lasted the open-mouth baby stage in these rapidly
+developing youngsters. Very soon they were pert and wide awake, looking
+upon the green world about them with calm eyes, and opening mouths only
+when food was to be expected. Mouthfuls, too, were no longer of the
+minute order; they were large enough for the parents themselves, and of
+course plain to be seen. Sometimes, indeed, as in the case of a big
+dragon-fly, the father was obliged to hold on, while the young hopeful
+pulled off piece after piece, until it was small enough for him to
+manage; occasionally, too, when the morsel was particularly hard, the
+little king passed it back to the giver, who stood waiting, and received
+it again when it had been apparently crushed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> or otherwise prepared, so
+that he could swallow it.</p>
+
+<p>Midsummer was at hand. The voices of young birds were heard on every
+side. The young thrasher and the robin chirped in the grove; sweet
+bluebird and pewee baby cries came from the shrubbery; the golden-wing
+leaned far out of his oaken walls, and called from morning to night.
+Hard-working parents rushed hither and thither, snatching, digging, or
+dragging their prey from every imaginable hiding-place. It was woful
+times in the insect world, so many new hungry mouths to be filled. All
+this life seemed to stir the young kings: they grew restless; they were
+late. Their three little heads, growing darker every day, bobbed this
+way and that; they changed places in the nest; they thrust out small
+wings; above all and through all, they violently preened themselves. In
+fact, this elaborate dressing of feathers was their constant business
+for so long a time that I thought it no wonder the grown-up kingbird
+pays little attention to his dress; he does enough pluming in the
+nursery to last a lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>On the twelfth day of their life, the young birds added their voices to
+the grand world-chorus in a faint, low "che-up," delivered with a
+kingbird accent; then, also, they began to sit up calmly, and look over
+the edge of the nest at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> what went on below, quite in the manner of
+their fathers. Two days later, the first little king mounted the walls
+of his castle, fluttered his wings, and apparently meditated the grand
+plunge into the world outside of home. So absorbed was he in his new
+emotions that he did not see the arrival of something to eat, and put in
+a claim for his share, as usual. I thought he was about to bid farewell
+to his birthplace. But I did not know him. Not till the youngest of the
+family was ready to go did he step out of the nest,&mdash;the three were
+inseparable. While I waited, expecting every moment to see him fly,
+there was a sudden change in the air, and very shortly a furious storm
+of wind and rain broke over us. Instantly every young bird subsided into
+the nest, out of sight; and in a few minutes their mother came, and gave
+them the protection of her presence.</p>
+
+<p>Several days were spent by the oak-tree household in shaking out the
+wings, taking observations of the world, dressing the feathers, and
+partaking of luncheon every few minutes. Such a nestful of restlessness
+I never saw; the constant wonder was that they managed not to fall out.
+Often the three sat up side by side on the edge, white breasts shining
+in the sun, and heads turning every way with evident interest. The dress
+was now almost exactly like the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>parents'. No speckled bib, like the
+bluebird or robin infant's, defaces the snowy breast; no ugly gray coat,
+like the redwing baby's, obscures the beauty of the little kingbird's
+attire. He enters society in full dress.</p>
+
+<p>But each day, now, the trio grew in size, in repose of manner, and in
+strength of voice; and before long they sat up hours at a time, patient,
+silent, and ludicrously resembling the</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Three wise men of Gotham<br />
+Who went to sea in a bowl."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>In spite of their grown-up looks and manners, they did not lose their
+appetite; and from breakfast, at the unnatural hour of half past four in
+the morning, till a late supper, when so dark that I could see only the
+movement of feeding like a silhouette against the white clouds, all
+through the day, food came to the nest every two minutes or less. Think
+of the work of those two birds! Every mouthful brought during those
+fifteen and a half hours required a separate hunt. They usually flew out
+to a strip of low land, where the grass was thick and high. Over this
+they hovered with beautiful motion, and occasionally dropped an instant
+into the grass. The capture made, they started at once for the nest,
+resting scarcely a moment. There were thus between three and four
+hundred trips a day, and of course that number of insects were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+destroyed. Even after the salt bath, which one bird took always about
+eleven in the morning, and the other about four in the afternoon, they
+did not stop to dry their plumage; but simply passed the wing feathers
+through the beak, paying no attention to the breast feathers, which
+often hung in locks, showing the dark part next the body, and so
+disguising the birds that I scarcely knew them when they came to the
+nest.</p>
+
+<p>The bath was interesting. The river, so called, was in fact an arm of
+the Great South Bay, and of course salt. To get a bath, the bird flew
+directly into the water, as if after a fish; then came to the fence to
+shake himself. Sometimes the dip was repeated once or twice, but more
+often bathing ended with a single plunge.</p>
+
+<p>Two weeks had passed over their heads, and the three little kings had
+for several days dallied with temptation on the brink before one set
+foot outside the nest. Even then, on the fifteenth day, he merely
+reached the door-step, as it were, the branch on which it rested.
+However, that was a great advance. He shook himself thoroughly, as if
+glad to have room to do so. This venturesome infant hopped about four
+inches from the walls of the cottage, looked upon the universe from that
+remote point, then hurried back to his brothers, evidently frightened at
+his own boldness.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p><p>On the day of this first adventure began a mysterious performance, the
+meaning of which I did not understand till later, when it became very
+familiar. It opened with a peculiar call, and its object was to rouse
+the young to follow. So remarkable was the effect upon them that I have
+no doubt a mob of kingbirds could be brought together by its means. It
+began, as I said, with a call, a low, prolonged cry, sounding, as nearly
+as letters can express it, like "Kr-r-r-r! Kr-r-r-r!" At the same
+moment, both parents flew in circles around the tree, a little above the
+nest, now and then almost touching it, and all the time uttering the
+strange cry. At the first sound, the three young kings mounted the edge,
+wildly excited, dressing their plumage in the most frantic manner, as if
+their lives depended on being off in an instant. It lasted but a few
+moments: the parents flew away; the youngsters calmed down.</p>
+
+<p>In a short time all the nestlings were accustomed to going out upon the
+branch, where they clustered together in a little row, and called and
+plumed alternately; but one after another slipped back into the dear old
+home, which they apparently found it very hard to leave. Often, upon
+coming out of the house, after the imperative demands of luncheon or
+dinner had dragged me for a time away from my absorbing study,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> not a
+kingbird, old or young, could be seen. The oak was deserted, the nest
+perfectly silent.</p>
+
+<p>"They have flown!" I thought.</p>
+
+<p>But no: in a few minutes small heads began show above the battlements;
+and in ten seconds after the three little kings were all in sight,
+chirping and arranging their dress with fresh vigor, after their nap.</p>
+
+<p>Not one of the young family tried his wings till he was seventeen days
+old. The first one flew perhaps fifteen feet, to another branch of the
+native tree, caught at a cluster of leaves, held on a few seconds, then
+scrambled to a twig and stood up. The first flight accomplished! After
+resting some minutes, he flew back home, alighting more easily this
+time, and no doubt considered himself a hero. Whatever his feelings, it
+was evident that he could fly, and he was so pleased with his success
+that he tried it again and again, always keeping within ten or fifteen
+feet of home. Soon his nest-fellows began to follow his example; and
+then it was interesting to see them, now scattered about the broad old
+tree, and then, in a little time, all back in the nest, as if they had
+never left it. After each excursion came a long rest, and every time
+they went out they flew with more freedom. Never were young birds so
+loath to leave the nursery, and never were little folk so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>clannish. It
+looked as if they had resolved to make that homestead on the top branch
+their headquarters for life, and, above all, never to separate. That
+night, however, came the first break, and they slept in a droll little
+row, so close that they looked as if welded into one, and about six feet
+from home. For some time after they had settled themselves the mother
+sat by them, as if she intended to stay; but when it had grown quite
+dark, her mate sailed out over the tree calling; and she,&mdash;well, the
+babies were grown up enough to be out in the world,&mdash;she went with her
+spouse to the poplar-tree.</p>
+
+<p>Progress was somewhat more rapid after this experience, and in a day or
+two the little kings were flying freely, by short flights, all about the
+grove, which came quite up to the fence. Now I saw the working of the
+strange migrating call above mentioned. Whenever the old birds began the
+cries and the circling flight, the young were thrown into a fever of
+excitement. One after another flew out, calling and moving in circles as
+long as he could keep it up. For five minutes the air was full of
+kingbird cries, both old and young, and then fell a sudden silence. Each
+young bird dropped to a perch, and the elders betook themselves to their
+hunting-ground as calmly as if they had not been stirring up a rout in
+the family. Usually, at the end of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> affair, the youngsters found
+themselves widely apart; for they had not yet learned to fly together,
+and to be apart was, above all things, repugnant to the three. They
+began calling; and the sound was potent to reunite them. From this side
+and that, by easy stages, came a little kingbird, each flight bringing
+them nearer each other; and before two minutes had passed they were
+nestled side by side, as close as ever. There they sat an hour or two
+and uttered their cries, and there they were hunted up and fed by the
+parents. There, I almost believe, they would have stayed till doomsday,
+but for the periodical stirring up by the mysterious call. No matter how
+far they wandered,&mdash;and each day it was farther and farther,&mdash;seven
+o'clock always found them moving; and all three came back to the native
+tree for the night, though never to the nest again.</p>
+
+<p>No characteristic of the young kingbirds was more winning than their
+confiding and unsuspicious reception of strangers, for so soon as they
+began to frequent other trees than the one the paternal vigilance had
+made comparatively sacred to them, they were the subjects of attention.
+The English sparrow was first, as usual, to inquire into their right to
+be out of their own tree. He came near them, alighted, and began to hop
+still closer. Not in the least startled by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> his threatening manner, the
+nearest youngster looked at him, and began to flutter his wings, to
+call, and to move toward him, as if expecting to be fed. This was too
+much even for a sparrow; he departed.</p>
+
+<p>Another curious visitor was a red-eyed vireo, who, being received in the
+same innocent and childlike way, also took his leave. But this bird
+appeared to feel insulted, and in a few minutes stole back, and took
+revenge in a most peculiar way; he hovered under the twig on which the
+three were sitting, their dumpy tails hanging down in a row, and
+actually twitched the feathers of those tails! Even that did not
+frighten the little ones; they leaned far over and stared at their
+assailant, but nothing more. I looked carefully to see if the vireo had
+a nest on that tree, so strange a thing it seemed for a bird to do. The
+tree was quite tall, with few branches, an oak grown in a close grove,
+and I am sure there was no vireo nest on it; so that it was an
+absolutely gratuitous insult.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to supplying the constantly growing appetites of the family,
+the male kingbird did not forget to keep a sharp lookout for intruders;
+for, until the youngsters could take care of themselves, he was bound to
+protect them. One day a young robin alighted nearer to the little group
+than he considered altogether<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> proper, and he started, full tilt, toward
+him. As he drew near, the alarmed robin uttered his baby cry, when
+instantly the kingbird wheeled and left; nor did he notice the stranger
+again, although he stayed there a long time. But when an old robin came
+to attend to his wants, that was a different matter; the kingbird went
+at once for the grown-up bird, thus proving that he spared the first one
+because of his babyhood.</p>
+
+<p>It was not till they were three weeks old that the little kings began to
+fly any lower than about the level of their nest. Then one came to the
+fence, and the others to the top of a grape-trellis. I hoped to see some
+indication of looking for food, and I did; but it was all looking up and
+calling on the parents; not an eye was turned earthward. Now the young
+ones began to fly more nearly together, and one could see that a few
+days' more practice would enable them to fly in a compact little flock.
+Shortly before this they had ceased to come to the native tree at night,
+and by day extended their wanderings so far that sometimes they were not
+heard for hours. Regularly, however, as night drew near, the migrating
+cry sounded in the grove, and upon going out I always found them
+together,&mdash;three</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Silver brown little birds,<br />
+Sitting close in the branches."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p><p>These interesting bantlings were twenty-four days old when it became
+necessary for me to leave them, as they had already left me. It was a
+warm morning, near the end of July, and about half an hour before I must
+go I went out to take my last look at them. Their calls were still loud
+and frequent, and I had no difficulty in tracing them to a dead twig
+near the top of a pine-tree, where they sat close together, as usual,
+with faces to the west; lacking only in length of tail of being as big
+as their parents, yet still calling for food, and still, to all
+appearances, without the smallest notion that they could ever help
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Thus I left them.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BABES IN THE WOOD.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> little home in the wood was well hidden. About its door were no
+signs of life, no chips from its building, no birds lingering near, no
+external indication whatever. In silence the tenants came and went;
+neither calls, songs, nor indiscreet tapping gave hint of the presence
+of woodpeckers in the neighborhood, and food was sought out of sight and
+hearing of the carefully secluded spot. No one would have suspected what
+treasures were concealed within the rough trunk of that old oak but for
+an accident.</p>
+
+<p>Madam herself was the culprit. In carrying out an eggshell, broken at
+one end and of no further use, she dropped it near the foot of the tree.
+To her this was doubtless a disaster, but to me it was a treasure-trove,
+for it told her well-kept secret. The hint was taken, the home soon
+found in the heart of an oak, with entrance twenty feet from the ground,
+and close watching from a distance revealed the owner, a golden-winged
+woodpecker.</p>
+
+<p>The tree selected by the shy young pair for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> their nursery stood in a
+pleasant bit of woods, left wild, on the shore of the Great South Bay,
+"where precious qualities of silence haunt," and the delicious breath of
+the sea mingled with the fragrance of pines. One must be an enthusiast
+to spy out the secrets of a bird's life, and this pair of golden-wings
+made more than common demand on the patience of the student, so silent,
+so wary, so wisely chosen, their sanctum. Before the door hung a
+friendly oak branch, heavy with leaves, that swayed and swung with every
+breeze. Now it hid the entrance from the east, now from the west, and
+with every change of the vagrant wind the observer must choose a new
+point of view.</p>
+
+<p>Then the birds! Was ever a pair so quiet? Without a sound they came, on
+level path, to the nest, dropped softly to the trunk, slipped quickly
+in, and, after staying about one minute inside, departed as noiselessly
+as they came. Their color, too! One would think a bird of that size, of
+golden-brown mottled with black, with yellow feather-shafts and a
+brilliant scarlet head-band, must be conspicuous. But so perfectly did
+the soft colors harmonize with the rough, sun-touched bark, so
+misleading were the shadows of the leaves moving in the breeze, and so
+motionless was the bird flattened against the trunk, that one might look
+directly at it and not see it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p><p>For a few days the woodpeckers were so timid that I was unable to
+secure a good look at them. The marked difference of manner, however,
+convinced me that both parents were engaged in attending upon the young
+family; and as they grew less vigilant and I learned to distinguish
+them, I discovered that it was so. The only dissimilarity in dress
+between the lord and lady of the golden-wing family is a small black
+patch descending from the beak of the male, answering very well to the
+mustache of bigger "lords of creation." In coming to the nest, one of
+the pair flew swiftly, just touched for an instant the threshold, and
+disappeared within; this I found to be the head of the household. The
+other, the mother, as it proved, being more cautious, alighted at the
+door, paused, thrust her head in, withdrew it, as if undecided whether
+to venture in the presence of a stranger, and, after two or three such
+movements, darted in. Always in one minute the bird reappeared, flew at
+once out of the wood, at about the height of the nest, and did not come
+down till it reached, on one side, an old garden run to waste, or, on
+the other, far over the water, a cultivated field. At that tender age,
+the young flickers received their rations about twice in an hour.</p>
+
+<p>Although the golden-wings were silent, the wood around them was lively
+from morning till<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> night. Blackbirds and cuckoos flew over; orioles,
+both orchard and Baltimore, sang and foraged among the trees;
+song-sparrows and chippies trilled from the fence at one side: bluebird
+and thrasher searched the ground, and paid in music for the privilege;
+pewees and kingbirds made war upon insects; and from afar came the notes
+of redwing and meadow-lark. Others there were, casual visitors, and of
+course it did not escape the squawks and squabbles of the English
+sparrow,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Irritant, iterant, maddening bird."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>The robins, who one sometimes wishes, with Lanier's owl, "had more to
+think and less to say," were not so self-assertive as they usually are;
+in fact, they were quite subdued. They came and went freely, but they
+never questioned my actions, as they are sure to do where they lead
+society. Now and then one perched on the fence and regarded me, with
+flick of wing and tail that meant a good deal, but he expressed no
+opinion. With kingbirds on one side, pewees on the other, and the great
+crested fly-catcher a daily caller, this was eminently a fly-catcher
+grove, and the robin plainly felt that he was not responsible for its
+good order. Indeed, after fly-catcher households were set up, he had his
+hands full to maintain his right to be there at all.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p><p>Whatever went on, the woodpeckers took no part in it. Back and forth
+they passed, almost stealthily, caring not who ruled the grove so that
+their precious secret was not discovered. Neither of them stayed to
+watch the nest, nor did they come and go together. The birds in the
+neighborhood might be inquisitive,&mdash;there was no one to resent it;
+blackbirds scrambled over the oak, robins perched on the screening
+branch, and no one about the silent entrance disputed their right.</p>
+
+<p>In the first flush of dismay at finding themselves watched, the
+golden-wings, as I said, redoubled their cautiousness. They tried to
+keep the position of the nest secret by coming from the back, gliding
+around on the trunk, and stealing in at the door, or by alighting
+quietly high up in the body of the tree, and coming down backward,&mdash;that
+is, tail first. But by remaining absolutely without motion or sound
+while they were present, I gradually won their toleration, and had my
+reward. The birds ceased to regard me as an enemy, and, though they
+always looked at me, no longer tried to keep out of sight, or to hide
+the object of their visits. During the first day of watching I had the
+good fortune to see a second empty shell brought out of the nest, and
+dropped a little farther off than the first had been; and I feel safe in
+assuming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> that these two were the birthdays of the babes in the wood.</p>
+
+<p>Thirteen days were devoted to the study of the manners and customs of
+the parents before the hidden subjects of their solicitude gave any
+signs of life visible from below. Though visits were about half an hour
+apart, and flicker babies have very good appetites, they did not go
+hungry, for on every occasion they had a hearty meal instead of the
+single mouthful that many young birds receive. This fact was guessed at
+on the thirteenth day, when the concealed little ones came out of the
+darkness up to the door, and the parents' movements in feeding could be
+seen; but the whole curious process was plain two days later, when a
+young golden-wing appeared at the opening and met his supplies half-way.
+The food-bearer clung to the bark beside the entrance, leaned over,
+turned his head on one side, and thrust his beak within the slightly
+opened beak of his offspring. In this position he gave eight or ten
+quick little jerks of his head, which doubtless represented so many
+mouthfuls; then, drawing back his head, he made a motion of the throat,
+as though swallowing, which was, presumably, raising instead, for he
+leaned over again and repeated the operation in the waiting mouth. This
+performance was gone through with as many as three or four times in
+succession<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> before one flicker baby was satisfied. After the nestlings
+came up to the door, the parents went no more inside, as a rule, and
+housekeeping took care of itself.</p>
+
+<p>On the fifteenth day of his life, as said above, the eldest scion of the
+golden-wing family made his appearance at the portal of his home. The
+sight and the sound of him came together, for he burst out at once with
+a cry. It was not very loud, but it meant something, and the practice of
+a day or two gave it all the strength that was desirable. In fact, it
+became clamorous to a degree that made further attempts at concealment
+useless, and no one was quicker to recognize it than the parents. The
+baby cry was the utterance familiar from the grown-up birds as "wick-a!
+wick-a! wick-a!" From this day, when one of the elders drew near the
+tree, it was met at the opening by an eager little face and a begging
+call; but it was several days before the recluse showed interest in
+anything except the food supply. Meals were now nearly an hour apart,
+and the moment one was over the well-fed youngster in the tree fell back
+out of sight, probably to sleep, after the fashion of babies the world
+over. But all this soon came to an end. The young flicker began to
+linger a few minutes after he had been fed, and to thrust his beak out
+in a tentative way, as if wondering what the big out-of-doors was like,
+any way.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>Matters were going on thus prosperously, when a party of English
+sparrows, newly fledged, came to haunt the wood in a small flock of
+eighteen or twenty; to meddle, in sparrow style, with everybody's
+business; and to profane the sweet stillness of the place with harsh
+squawks. The mistress of the little home in the oak, who had conducted
+her domestic affairs so discreetly, one day found herself the centre of
+a mob; for these birds early learn the power of combination. She came to
+her nest followed by the impertinent sparrows, who flew as close as
+possible, none of them more than a foot from her. They alighted as near
+as they could find perches, crowded nearer, stretched up, flew over, and
+tried in every way, with an air of the deepest interest, to see what she
+<i>could</i> be doing in that hole. When she left,&mdash;which she did soon, for
+she was annoyed,&mdash;the crowd did not go with her; they were bound to
+explore the mystery of that opening. They flew past it; they hovered
+before it; they craned their necks to peer in; they perched on a bare
+twig that grew over it, as many as could get footing, and leaned far
+over to see within. The young flicker retired before his inquisitive
+visitors, and was seen no more till the mother came again; and then she
+had to go in out of sight to find him.</p>
+
+<p>As the days went on, the babe in the wood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> became more used to the
+sunlight and the bird-sounds about him. Evidently, he was of a
+meditative turn, for he did not scramble out, and rudely rush upon his
+fate; he deliberated; he studied, with the air of a philosopher; he
+weighed the attractions of a cool and breezy world against the comforts
+and delightful obscurity of home. Perhaps, also, there entered into his
+calculations the annoyance of a reporter meeting him on the threshold of
+life, tearing the veil away from his private affairs. What would one
+give to know the thoughts in that little brown head, on its first look
+at life! Whatever the reason, he plainly concluded not to take the risk
+that day, for he disappeared again behind a door that no reporter,
+however glib or plausible, could pass. Sometimes he vanished with a
+suddenness that was not natural. Did his heart fail him, or, perchance,
+his footing give way? For whether he clung to the walls, or made
+stepping-stones of his brothers and sisters (as do many of his betters,
+or at least his biggers), who can tell? Often beside this eldest-born,
+after the first day, appeared a second little head, spying eagerly, if a
+little less bravely, on the world, and as days passed he frequently
+contested the position of vantage with his brother, but he was always
+second.</p>
+
+<p>Mother Nature is kind to woodpeckers. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> fits them out for life before
+they leave the seclusion of the nursery. There is no callow, immature
+period in the face of the world, no "green" age for the gibes or
+superior airs of elders. A woodpecker out of the nest is a woodpecker in
+the dress and with the bearing of his fathers,&mdash;dignified, serene, and
+grown up.</p>
+
+<p>As the sweet June days advanced, the young bird in the oak-tree grew
+bolder. He no longer darted in when a saucy sparrow came near, and when
+the parent arrived with food the cries became so loud that all the world
+could know that here were young woodpeckers at dinner. Now, too, he
+began to spend much time in dressing his plumage, in preparation for the
+grand d&eacute;but. Usually, when a young bird begins to dally with the
+temptation to fly, so rapid is growth among birds, he may be expected
+out in a few hours. In this deliberate family it is different; indeed,
+taking flight must be a greater step for a woodpecker than for a bird
+from an open nest.</p>
+
+<p>Three days the youngster had been debating whether it were "to be or not
+to be," and more and more he lingered in the doorway, sitting far enough
+out to show his black necklace. His was no longer the wondering gaze of
+infancy, to which all things are equally strange; it was a
+discriminating look,&mdash;the head turned quickly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> and passing objects drew
+his attention. On the third day, too, he uttered his first genuine
+woodpecker cry of "pe-auk!" He had not the least embarrassment before
+me. I think he regarded me as a part of the landscape,&mdash;the eccentric
+development of a tree trunk, perhaps; for while he never looked at me
+nor put the smallest restraint upon his infant passions, let another
+person come into the wood, and he was at once silent and on his guard.
+All this time he had become more and more fascinated with the view
+without his door; one could fairly see the love of the world grow upon
+him. He picked at the bark about him; he began to get ideas about ants,
+and ran out a long tongue and helped himself to many a tidbit.</p>
+
+<p>When the young golden-wing had passed four days in this manner, he grew
+impatient. The hour-long intervals between meals were not to his mind,
+and he began to express himself fluently. He leaned far out, and
+delivered the adult cry with great vigor and new pathos; he then bowed
+violently many times, moved his mouth as if eating, and struggled
+farther and still farther out, until it seemed that he could not keep
+within another minute. When one of the parents came he forgot his
+grown-up manner, and returned to the baby cry, loud and urgent, as if he
+were starved.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p>He was fed, and again left; and now he scrambled up with his feet on
+the edge. He was silent; he was considering an important move, a plunge
+into the world. He wanted to come,&mdash;he longed to fly. Outside were
+sunshine, sweet air, trees, food,&mdash;inside only darkness. The smallest
+coaxing would bring him out; but coaxing he was not to have. He must
+decide for himself; the impulse must be from within.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning opened with a severe northeast gale.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"It rained, and the wind was never weary."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>The birds felt the depressing influence of the day. The robins perched
+on the fence, wings hanging, each feather like a bare stick, and not a
+sound escaping the throat; and when robins are discouraged, it is dismal
+weather indeed. The bluebirds came about, draggled almost beyond
+recognition. Even the swallows sailed over silently, their merry chatter
+hushed.</p>
+
+<p>But life must go on, whatever the weather; and fearing the young
+woodpecker might select this day to make his entry into the big world,
+his faithful watcher donned rainy-day costume, and went out to assist in
+the operation. The storm did not beat upon his side of the tree, and the
+youngster still hung out of his hole in the trunk, calling and crying,
+apparently without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> the least intention of exposing his brand-new
+feathers to the rain.</p>
+
+<p>Very early the following morning, before the human world was astir, loud
+golden-wing cries, and calls, and "laughs" were heard about the wood.
+This abandonment of restraint proclaimed that something had happened;
+and so, indeed, I discovered; for in hastening to my post I found an
+ominous silence about the oak-tree. The young wise-head, whose struggles
+and temptations I had watched so closely, had chosen to go in the
+magical morning hours, when the world belongs entirely to birds and
+beasts. The home in the wood looked deserted.</p>
+
+<p>I sat down in silence and waited, for I knew the young flicker could not
+long be still. Sure enough, I soon heard his cry, but how far off! I
+followed it to an oak-tree on the farther edge of the grove. I searched
+the tree, and there I saw him, quiet now as I approached, and plainly
+full of joy in his freedom and his wings.</p>
+
+<p>I returned to my place, hoping that all had not gone. There must be more
+than one, for two had been up to the door, I was sure. I waited. Some
+hours later, the parents came to their home in the wood, one after the
+other. Back one alighted beside the door, glanced in, in a casual way,
+but did not put the head in, and then flew to a neighboring tree,
+uttering what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> sounded marvelously like a chuckling laugh, and in a
+moment left the grove. Did, then, the daughters of the house meekly fly,
+without preliminary study of the world from the door? Were there,
+perchance, no daughters? Indeed, had more than one infant reached
+maturity? All these questions I asked myself, but not one shall I ever
+be able to answer.</p>
+
+<p>I waited several hours. Many birds sang and called among the trees, but
+no sound came from the oak-tree household, and to me the wood was
+deserted.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>HOME LIFE OF THE REDSTART.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> redstart himself told me where his treasures were "hid in a leafy
+hollow." Not that he intended to be so confiding; on the contrary he was
+somewhat disconcerted when he saw what he had done, and tried his best
+to undo it by appearing not to have the smallest interest in that
+particular tree. I happened that morning to be wandering slowly along
+the edge of a tree-lined ravine, looking for the nest of a greatly
+disturbed pair of cat-birds. As I drew near an old moss-covered
+apple-tree, I heard a low though energetic "phit! phit!" and a chipping
+sparrow emerged from the tree with much haste, quickly followed by a
+redstart, with the unmistakable air of proprietor. The sight of me made
+a diversion. The pursued dropped into the grass, while the pursuer
+turned his attention to the bigger game, presented so unexpectedly that
+he had not time to bethink himself of his usual custom of not showing
+his gorgeous black and gold about home. He scolded me well for an
+instant, till his wits returned, when he disappeared like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> a flash. It
+was too late to deceive me, however, and I marked that tree as I passed,
+intent at the moment upon cat-birds.</p>
+
+<p>On returning, I stopped on the bank to look the tree over at my leisure,
+and there I soon saw, two feet from the top of the tallest upright
+branch and tightly clinging to it, a small cradle, gently rocking in the
+warm breeze. No one was at home, and I sat down to wait. This movement
+did not meet the approval of a certain small tenant of a neighboring
+tree, for I was saluted by a sharp, low, incessant cry; now it came from
+the right side, now from the left. I turned quickly, caught a glimpse of
+yellow, the flit of a wing, and then&mdash;nothing. In a moment the sound
+began again, and thus it tantalized me till my neck became tired, and I
+laid my head back among the ferns, to wait till the small fire-brand
+calmed down a little. To my surprise and delight, the bird seemed to
+regard this as a surrender, for down a broad branch that sloped toward
+me came a most animated bundle of feathers, wings and tail wide spread,
+making hostile demonstrations, and scolding as fiercely as such an atom
+could. It had all the airs of ownership, and its colors were olive and
+yellow; had, then, the roguish redstart deceived me, after all? Thus
+pondering, I suddenly remembered that I had never seen his spouse, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+that monsieur and madame do not dress alike in the bird world any more
+than in the human. I marked the points; I consulted the books; there
+could be no doubt this was the little dame herself, and her mate had
+been too clever to come to her aid.</p>
+
+<p>The structure on the apple bough was the redstart homestead. Watch it
+every day I must, yet not to disturb the fiery little owners it was
+necessary to move further from them. I sought and found a delightful
+nook, the other side of the ravine. On its steep sides the native forest
+still flourished, and seated at the foot of a tall maple, tented in by a
+heavy low growth at my back, I could look across the narrow chasm
+through a gap in the trees, and see the redstart nest in the pasture
+beyond. The restless pair did not notice me behind my veil of greenery,
+and my glass was of the best; so I secured a good view of the small
+mansion and the life that went on about it, without in the least
+annoying the builders thereof. I found the head of the family very
+interesting in his r&ocirc;le of husband and father.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps not every one knows a redstart, and his name is misleading, for
+he has not a red feather on his body. He is a bird of very few inches,
+clothed in brilliant array of orange and black and white, which always
+suggests the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>Baltimore oriole. His mate is more soberly clad in
+olive-brown and golden-yellow; neither of them is still for an instant,
+diving and flitting about on a tree like specks of animated sunlight.</p>
+
+<p>At my pleasant post of observation I spent hours of every day, stealing
+in soon after breakfast, quietly, so as not to arouse the suspicions of
+a robin who lived in the neighborhood; for unfortunate is the student
+whose ways are not acceptable to one of this noisy family. I found,
+however, when my patience gave out, that the robin will take a hint. On
+throwing a pebble through the branches near him, as a suggestion that
+his attentions were not welcome, he flew to a tree a little farther off,
+and resumed his offensive remarks; another pebble convinced him that the
+distance might be profitably increased, and thus I drove him away; at
+about the fourth pebble he took a final departure.</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, I saw the small housekeeping go on. I always found the
+little dame in possession, and generally the lord and master gleaning
+food in redstart fashion; flitting around a branch, darting behind a
+leaf, over and under a twig, tail spread to keep his balance during
+these jerky movements, his bright oriole colors flashing as he dashed
+through a patch of sunlight,&mdash;a beautiful object, but a perfectly silent
+one. When his happiness demanded expression he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> flew to a maple-tree,
+and poured out his soul in the quaint though not very musical ditty of
+his race. Sometimes he stood still on a branch, like a bird who has
+something to say; but more often he rushed around after insects on this
+tree, and threw in the notes between the firm snaps of his beak.</p>
+
+<p>Promptly every half hour the little sprite took his way to that precious
+apple branch, and dropped, light as a snow-flake, on a certain twig on
+the nearest side of his homestead. A flash from the nest announced the
+departure of madame, and he popped into her place. Not to settle down to
+business, as she did,&mdash;far from it! It is a wonder to me how even a
+female redstart can sit still. On taking his place, he first examined
+the treasures it held, leaning over the edge with a solicitude charming
+to see; and when he did at last cover them from sight, his black velvet
+cap still bobbed up and down, this way and that, as though he were
+taking advantage of his enforced quiet to plume himself. Precisely three
+minutes he allowed his modest spouse for her repast. At the expiration
+of that time he deserted, darted away, and began to call from the next
+tree, when she instantly returned. Sometimes she was at hand, and
+alighted on a twig on the farther side of the nest, when he bounded off
+and out of sight. She carefully <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>inspected the nest to see that all was
+right, then slipped in, settled herself with a gentle flutter of wings,
+and I knew she was safe for another half hour. It was the closest
+watching I ever tried, so quick were the motions, so silent the going
+and coming.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then the redstart chose to stay longer at home. The usual time
+having expired, the little sitter appeared, but if her mate did not
+vacate, she availed herself of the additional liberty in flitting about
+the tree, adding a dessert to her dinner. On one occasion he let her
+return twice before he left, occupying her place for eight minutes,&mdash;an
+enormous length of time for a redstart. More often he grew impatient in
+less than three minutes, and once he forgot himself so far as to call
+while in the nest.</p>
+
+<p>During the sitting there came two days of steady, pouring rain and high
+wind. I feared the hopes of that family, as well as others all about,
+would perish, but the brave little mother bore the depressing season
+well. The eggs were never left uncovered, nor did that gay rover, her
+spouse, forget to take her place as usual.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of my fourth day of watching, I saw there was news;
+sitting was over, and though they could not be seen, it was easy to
+picture the featherless, wide-mouthed objects, evidently so lovely to
+the young parents. Close<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> work as it had been to observe the movements
+of the pair, it was much harder after that, they became at once so wary.
+I am sure they never regarded me in any way as a spy, for I was not in
+their highway; moreover, they would certainly have expressed their mind
+if they had. Yet they came and went entirely from the other side, and so
+exactly opposite the nest that often I could not see even the flit of a
+wing. Not until one stood on the threshold could I see it, and the most
+untiring vigilance was necessary. Even before this madame was cautious
+in her going and coming; she first dropped about two feet to a branch,
+paused a moment, then went to a second one, still lower, thus left the
+tree near the ground, and in returning she began at the lowest branch
+and retraced her steps to the nest.</p>
+
+<p>That day the father of the new family seemed very joyous, and treated us
+to a great deal of singing, though it was not a singing-day, being very
+cold, with a steady rain. The pretty little mother took thoughtful care
+of her brood. For a half hour or more she worked very busily, her mate
+helping, and fed them well; then she deliberately sat down upon those
+youngsters, exactly as though they were still eggs. There she stayed as
+long as she thought best, and then she went to her work again.</p>
+
+<p>The morning they were six days old I had the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> pleasure of seeing a
+movement in the nest. When the sun reached a certain height above the
+tree, it shone into that small mansion in such a way as to reveal its
+contents; thus I could see the redstart babies moving restlessly,
+evidently in haste already to come out into the world. This day the
+father took rather more than half the charge of the provision supply,
+and with considerable regularity. During four hours that the nest was
+closely watched, its tenants were fed at about five-minute intervals for
+half an hour; and then mamma promptly smothered their ambition, as above
+mentioned, for perhaps a quarter of an hour, when, if they did not take
+naps like "good little birdies," they at least were forced to keep
+still.</p>
+
+<p>This young matron reminded me of some mothers of a larger growth, she
+was so fussy, so careful that her charges did not go too fast for their
+strength, while her spouse made it his business to see that she did not
+keep them tender by over-coddling. He allowed her to brood them for
+fifteen minutes; longer than that he would not tolerate, but came like a
+fiery meteor to see that she moved. She plainly understood his
+intention, for the instant he appeared she darted off, although he did
+not touch the nest. All day the weight of responsibility kept this rover
+at home; he might generally be seen on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> the lower branches of his tree,
+darting about in perfect silence; but once or twice I saw him actually
+loitering, a pleasant pastime of which I never suspected a redstart.</p>
+
+<p>Six days appears to be the limit of time a redstart baby can submit to a
+cradle. (I know this does not agree with the books, so I explain that it
+was six days from the time constant sitting ceased. If the young were
+out of the shell before that, they were covered all the time, and not
+fed.) The day that stirring urchin was six days old he mounted the edge
+of the nest and tried his wings. When mamma came, he asked for food in
+the usual bird-baby way, gentle flutters of the wings; but this haste
+was certainly not pleasing to the little dame, and upon her departure I
+noticed that he had returned to the nursery.</p>
+
+<p>However, his ambition was roused,&mdash;the ambition of a redstart to be
+moving,&mdash;and at seven o'clock the next morning, his seventh day, he came
+out with his mind made up to stay. First a shaky little yellowish head
+appeared above the nest; then the owner thereof clambered out upon a
+twig, three inches higher. One minute he rested, to glance around the
+new world, and quickly increased the distance to six inches, where he
+stood fidgeting, arranging his feathers, and evidently preparing for a
+tremendous flight,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> when his anxious parent returned. Plainly, he would
+have been wiser to wait another day, for all the time it was difficult
+for him to keep his place; every few seconds he made wild struggles,
+beating the air with his wings, and at last, after enjoying that
+elevated position in life about ten minutes, he lost his hold and fell.
+I held my breath, for a fall to the ground meant a dead nestling; but he
+clutched at a twig two or three feet lower, and succeeded in retaining
+this more humble station. Madame came and fed and comforted him, and it
+was soon evident that he had learned a lesson, for he moderated his
+transports; though his head was as restless as ever, his feet were more
+steady; he did not fall again, and he soon scrambled freely all over the
+tree.</p>
+
+<p>Now I was interested to see how the redstart babies were brought up, and
+for more than four hours I kept my eyes on that youngster. It is no
+small task, let me say, to keep watch of an atom an inch or two long, to
+whom any leaf is ample screen, to note every movement lest he slip out
+of sight, and to make memorandum of each morsel of food he gets. There
+were, also, of course, the most seductive sounds about me; never so many
+birds came near. Cat-birds whispered softly behind my back; a vireo
+cried plaintively over my head; the towhee bunting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> boldly perched on a
+low bush, and saluted me with his peculiar cry; flickers uttered their
+quaint "wick-up" on my right, and a veery sighed softly "we-o" on my
+left. Unflinchingly, however, I kept my face toward that apple-tree, and
+my eyes on that restless young hopeful, while I noted the conduct of the
+parents toward him.</p>
+
+<p>This is what I learned: first, that those left in the nest were to be
+kept back, and not allowed out of the nursery till this one was able to
+care for himself, or at least to help. The nest, holding probably one or
+two little ones, was visited, the first hour almost exactly once in
+twenty minutes, by madame exclusively, and the three succeeding hours at
+longer intervals, by her spouse. Scarcely a move was made there; plainly
+there were no more "come-outers" that day. The efforts of the mother
+were concentrated on number one, apparently, to bring him forward as
+fast as possible. He was, for an hour, fed every five or six minutes,
+the next hour only three times, and this system was kept up with perfect
+regularity all day.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the behavior of the happy father was peculiar and somewhat
+puzzling, considering how solicitous he had hitherto appeared. For some
+time his gay coat was not to be seen, even on his favorite lower
+branches; and when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> he did come around, his mate flew at him, whether to
+praise or to punish could only be guessed, for he at once disappeared
+before her. After two or three episodes of this sort he remained about
+the tree, and occasionally contributed a mite to the family sustenance.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, at half past seven, I resumed my seat as usual, and
+very soon saw I was too late. Both parents were busily flitting about
+the tree, but never once went near the old home; moreover, when the sun
+reached the magical point where he revealed the inside of the nest, lo,
+it was empty!</p>
+
+<p>Either there had been but one other bairn, and he had got out before I
+did,&mdash;things happen so rapidly in the redstart family,&mdash;or there had
+been a tragedy, I could not discover which. Neither could I find a young
+bird on that tree, though I was sure, by the conduct of the parents,
+that at least one remained.</p>
+
+<p>Now that no one's feelings could be hurt by the operation, I had a limb
+cut off the apple-tree, and the little home I had watched with so great
+interest brought down to me. Nothing could be daintier or more secure
+than that snug little structure. Placed on an upright branch, just below
+the point where five branchlets, a foot or more long, sprang out to
+shelter, and closely surrounded by seven twigs, of few inches but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> many
+leaves, it was a marvel I had been able to see it at all. The redstarts
+might be lively and restless, but they were good workers. So firmly was
+that nest fastened to its branch, resting on one-twig and embraced by
+two others, like arms, that to remove it would destroy it. Strips of
+something like grapevine bark, with a few grass-blades and a material
+that looked like hornets' or other insects' nest, formed the outside,
+while long horsehairs made the soft lining. Though strong and firm, it
+was on the sides so thin, that, as mentioned above, the movements of the
+young could be seen through it.</p>
+
+<p>This pretty cup, around which so many hopes had centred, was of a size
+for a fairy's homestead,&mdash;hardly two inches inside diameter, and less
+than two inches deep. I carried it off as a memento of a delightful June
+among the hills of the old Bay State.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2>
+
+<h3>WHEN NESTING IS OVER.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"When the birds fly past<br />
+And the chimes ring fast<br />
+And the long spring shadows sweet shadow cast,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>comes the most attractive time of year to the bird-lover,&mdash;the
+baby-days, when the labors and anxieties of the nest being over, proud
+and happy parents bring forward their tender younglings all unused to
+the ways of the world, and carry on their training before our eyes.</p>
+
+<p>First to come upon the scene of the summer's studies was the brown
+thrush family. For some time the head of the household had made the
+grove a regular resting place in his daily round. He always entered in
+silence, alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, and hopped lightly, step
+by step, to the top, where he sang softly a few delightful and
+tantalizing strains. In a moment he dropped to the ground, uttering a
+liquid note or two as he went, and threw into his work of digging among
+the dead leaves the same suppressed vehemence he had put into his song.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+Not unfrequently he came into collision with a sparrow mob that claimed
+to own that piece of wood, and his way of dealing with them was an ever
+fresh satisfaction. He stood quiet, though the crouching attitude and
+the significant twitches of his expressive tail indicated very clearly
+to one who knew him that he was far from calm inside; that he was merely
+biding his time. His tranquil manner misled the vulgar foe; that they
+mistook it for cowardice was obvious. Nearer, and still nearer, they
+drew, surrounded him, and seemed about to fall upon him in a body, when
+he suddenly wheeled, and like a flash of light dashed right and left
+almost simultaneously, as if he had become two birds, and the
+impertinent enemy fairly vanished before him.</p>
+
+<p>Like many another bird, however, the thrasher, although not afraid of
+sparrows, disliked a continual row. He had gradually ceased to come into
+the neighborhood, and I feared I should neither see nor (what was worse)
+hear him again. But one morning he presented himself with two
+youngsters, so brimful of joy that he quite forgot his previous caution
+and reserve. They perched in plain sight on the fence, and while the
+little ones clumsily struggled to maintain their footing, the father
+turned his head this side and that, jerked his tail, and uttered a low<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+cry as touch as to say, "Can anybody beat that pair now?"</p>
+
+<p>In a moment he fell to the serious work of filling their hungry mouths.
+Being very wide awake, the young birds readily saw where supplies came
+from, and then they accompanied their parent to the ground, following
+every step, as he dug almost without ceasing. After a tolerably solid
+repast of large white grubs, he slipped away from the dear coaxers,
+disappeared on the other side of the fence, and before they recovered
+from their bewilderment at finding themselves deserted, returned bearing
+in his beak a strawberry. The young thrush received the dainty eagerly,
+but finding it too big to swallow, beat it on the fence as if it were a
+worm. Of course it parted, and a piece fell to the ground, which the
+waiting parent went after, and administered as a second mouthful.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time the little ones were fed on the fence, and the father
+was so happy that every few minutes he was forced to retire behind a
+neighboring tree and "make gladness musical upon the other side."</p>
+
+<p>After that morning the thrasher came daily to the place, and a dessert
+of strawberries invariably followed the more substantial meal, but never
+again did he bring more than one of his family with him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p><p>One morning the brown thrush baby, who had been rapidly growing
+self-reliant, came alone for the first time. It was interesting to watch
+him, running along the tops of the pickets; searching in the hot grass
+till out of breath for something to eat; looking around in a surprised
+way, as if wondering why the food did not come; making a dash, with
+childlike innocence, after a strawberry he saw in the mouth of a robin,
+who in amazement leaped a foot in the air; and at last flying to a tree
+to call and listen for his sire. That wise personage, meanwhile, had
+stolen silently into the grove, all dripping from his bath in the bay,
+and while indulging in a most elaborate dressing and pluming, had kept
+one eye on the infant in the grass below, apparently to see how he got
+on by himself. When at last the little one stood panting and
+discouraged, he called, a single "chirp." The relieved youngster
+recognized it and answered, and at once flew over to join him.</p>
+
+<p>This restless young thrasher, excepting that he was perhaps somewhat
+lighter in color and a little less glossy of coat, looked at that moment
+as old as he ever would. Nothing but his ingenuous ways, and his soft
+baby-cry "chr-er-er" revealed his tender age. His curiosity when he
+found himself in an unfamiliar place or on a strange tree was amusing.
+He looked up and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> down, stretching his neck in his desire to see
+everything; he critically examined the tuft of leaves near him; he
+peered over and under a neighboring branch, and then gazed gravely
+around on the prospect before him. He flew with ease, and alighted with
+the grace of his family, on the bare trunk of a tree, the straight side
+of a picket, or any other unlikely place for a bird to be found. For a
+week he came and went and was watched and studied, but one day the
+strawberries were gathered in the old garden, and the beautiful brown
+thrush baby appeared no more.</p>
+
+<p>The world was not deserted of bird voices, however.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Swift bright wings flitted in and out<br />
+And happy chirpings were all about."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>For days the wood had resounded with the shrill little cries of swallow
+babies, who alighted on the low trees on the border while their busy
+parents skimmed over the bay, or the marshy shore, and every few minutes
+brought food to their clamorous offspring. I had a remarkably good
+opportunity to make the acquaintance of this youngster&mdash;the
+white-bellied swallow. There were dozens of them, and the half grown
+trees were their chosen perches. The droll little fellows, with white
+fluffy breasts, no feet to speak of, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Built so narrow</span><br />
+Like the head of an arrow<br />
+To cut the air,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>did not even notice me in my nook under the pines.</p>
+
+<p>They could fly very well, and now and then one followed the parent far
+out, calling sharply his baby "cheep" and trying to get close to her in
+the air. Often she turned, met and fed him on the wing, and then sailed
+on, while the youngster lagged a little, unable to give his mind to
+feeding and flying at the same time. Sometimes the mother avoided a too
+persistent pleader by suddenly rising above him. When a little one was
+at rest, she usually paused before him on wing only long enough to poke
+a mouthful into his wide open beak; occasionally&mdash;but not often&mdash;she
+alighted beside him for a few moments.</p>
+
+<p>Leading out into the water for the use of boatmen, was a narrow foot
+pier, provided on one side with a hand rail. This rail was a convenient
+rendezvous for all the babies belonging to the swallow flock, a sort of
+a community nursery. On this they rested from the fatigue of flying;
+here they were fed, and sometimes gently pushed off the perch afterward,
+as a mild hint to use their wings.</p>
+
+<p>I wanted to find out whether parents and young knew each other from all
+the rest. Of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> course in this crowd it was not possible to tell, but I
+found a better chance in another favorite spot, an old post that rose
+out of the water, eight or ten feet from the shore, and so small that it
+was only comfortable for one, although two could stand on it. The post
+seldom lacked its occupant, a baby swallow with head up, looking eagerly
+into the flock above him. This isolated youngling I made my special
+study. Sometimes on the approach of a grown up bird, he lifted his wings
+and opened his mouth, petitioning for, and plainly expecting food. At
+other times he paid not the least attention to a swallow passing over
+him, but sat composed and silent, though watchful, apparently for the
+right one to come in sight. He was often, though not invariably, fed
+upon his appeal; but that proves nothing, for it would require the
+services of a dozen parents to respond to every request of a young bird.
+It not unfrequently happened, too, that one of the flock always flying
+about over the water came very near the little one on the post as if to
+offer him a morsel, but suddenly, when almost upon him, wheeled and
+left,&mdash;obviously mistaken. On no such occasion did that knowing
+youngster show any expectation of attention. Again there would sometimes
+join him on the post, a second young swallow, and, although crowded,
+they were quite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>contented together. Then I noticed as the elders swept
+over, that sometimes one baby begged, sometimes the other; never both at
+once. This seemed to indicate that the little one knows its parents, for
+no one familiar with the craving hunger and the constant opening of the
+baby beak to its natural purveyors, will doubt that when a young bird
+failed to ask, it was because the elder was not its parent.</p>
+
+<p>An early lesson in many bird lives is that of following, or flying in a
+flock, for at first the babies of a brood scatter wildly, and seem not
+to have the smallest notion of keeping together. The small swallows in
+the trees near me were carefully trained in this. Often while one stood
+chirping vehemently, clearly thinking himself half starved, a grown-up
+bird flew close past him, calling in very sweet tones, and stopped in
+plain sight, ten or fifteen feet away. Of course the youngster followed
+at once. But just as he reached the side of the parent, that thoughtful
+tutor took another short flight, calling and coaxing as before. This
+little performance was repeated three or four times before the pupil
+received the tidbits he so urgently desired.</p>
+
+<p>Other sweet baby-talk in the trees came from the wood-pewee. The pewee I
+had noted from the building of her beautiful lichen-covered cradle in
+the crotch of a wild-cherry tree. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> branch, dead and leafless,
+afforded no screen for the brave little mother. Look when one might, in
+the hottest sunshine or the heaviest rain, there sat the bird quite up
+out of the nest, head erect and eyes eagerly watching for intruders. The
+pewee, for all his tender and melancholy utterances, has a fiery spirit.
+He hesitates not to clinch with a brother pewee, interpolates his
+sweetest call into the hot chases, and even when resting between
+encounters, spreads his tail, flutters his wings, and erects his crest
+in a most warlike manner. The little dame was not a whit less vigilant
+than her spouse. Let but a blackbird pass over and she was off in a
+twinkling, pursuing him, pouncing down upon him savagely, and all the
+time uttering her plaintive "pe-o-wee!" till her mate joined her, and
+made it so uncomfortable for the big foe that he departed, protesting to
+be sure in vigorous black-birdese, but taking good care to go. So
+persistent were the pewees in these efforts, that in a few days they
+convinced a pair of blackbirds (purple crow blackbirds) that this part
+of the grove was no longer a thoroughfare, and whereas they had been
+quite frequent visitors, they were now rarely seen.</p>
+
+<p>The saucy robin who chose to insist upon his right to alight on their
+tree, as he had always done, was harder to convince; in fact, he never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+was driven away. Every day, and many times a day, arose the doleful cry
+of distress. I always looked over from my seat on the other side of the
+little open spot in the wood, and invariably saw a robin on the lower
+part of the wild-cherry where the trunk divided, flirting his tail,
+jerking his wings, and looking very wicked indeed. Down upon him came
+one, sometimes two pewees. He simply ran up the sloping branch toward
+their nest, hopped to another limb, every step bringing him nearer, the
+pewees darting frantically at him&mdash;and at last took flight from the
+other side; but not until he was quite ready. This drama was enacted
+with clock-like regularity, neither party seeming to tire of its
+repetition, till the happy day when the pewee baby could fly, and
+appeared across the grove, near me.</p>
+
+<p>One morning I noticed the anxious parents very busy on a small oak-tree,
+but a clump of leaves made a perfect hiding place for the infant, and I
+could not see it at first. There may have been more, although I saw but
+one and heard but one baby cry, a prolonged but very low sound of pewee
+quality. While their charge lingered so near me, I was treated to
+another sensation by one of the pair,&mdash;a pewee song. The performer
+alighted almost directly over my head, and began at once to sing in a
+very sweet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> voice, but so low it could not be heard a dozen feet away.
+There was little variation in the tones, but it was rapidly delivered,
+with longer and shorter intervals and varying inflections, a genuine
+whisper-song such as most birds that I have studied delight in. It did
+not please madam, his mate; she listened, looked, and then rushed at the
+singer, and I regret to say, they fell into a "scrimmage" in the grass,
+quite after the vulgar manner of the sparrow.</p>
+
+<p>They soon returned to their duty of feeding the baby behind the oak leaf
+screen. Both came very nearly at the same time; each one on arriving,
+administered a significant "poke" behind the leaf, then indulged in
+several eccentric movements in their jerky style, dashed after a fly,
+stood a full minute staring at me, and at last flew. This programme was
+scarcely varied. Inoffensive as I was, however, the birds plainly did
+not relish my spying upon them, and when I returned from luncheon, they
+had removed their infant. For a day or two, I heard on the farther side
+of the grove the sweet, mournful "pe-o-wee" with which this bird
+proclaims the passage of another insect to its fate, and then it was
+gone, and I saw and heard them no more.</p>
+
+<p>One morning I rose at dawn and seated myself behind my blind to spy upon
+the doings of the early risers. On this particular morning I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> first
+heard the tender notes of "the darling of children and bards"&mdash;the
+bluebird baby. The cry was almost constant; it was urgent and clamorous
+beyond anything I ever heard from "April's bird." I even doubted the
+author till I saw him. The thin and worn looking mother who had him in
+charge worked without ceasing, while the open-mouthed infant lifted up
+his voice and wept in a way so petulant and persistent as to completely
+disguise its sweet bluebird quality. Now this charming youngster,
+bearing heaven's color on his wings, with speckled bib and
+shoulder-cape, and honest, innocent eyes, is a special favorite with me;
+I never before saw a cry-baby in the family, and I did not lose sight of
+him. Three or four days passed in which the pair frequently came about,
+but without the father or any other young ones. Had there been an
+accident and were these the survivors? Was the troublesome brawler a
+spoiled "only child"? All questions were settled by the appearance
+somewhat later of three other young bluebirds who were not cry-babies.
+The father had evidently shaken off the trammels of domestic life, and
+"gone for his holiday" into the grove, where his encounters with the
+pewees kept up a little excitement for him.</p>
+
+<p>When the pitiful looking little dame had succeeded in shaking off her
+ne'er-do-well, the four<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> little ones came every day on the lawn
+together. Sometimes the mother came near to see how they prospered, but
+oftener they were alone. They cried no more; they ran about in the
+grass, and if one happened upon a fat morsel, the three others crowded
+around him and asked in pretty baby fashion for a share. Often they went
+to the fence, or the lower bar of the grape trellis, and there stood
+pertly erect, with head leaning a little forward, as though pondering
+some of the serious problems of bluebird life, but in fact concerning
+themselves only with the movements in the grass, as now and then a
+sudden plunge proved. Sometimes one of the group appeared alone on the
+ground, when no person was about (except behind the blinds), and then he
+talked with himself for company, a very charming monologue in the
+inimitable bluebird tone, with modifications suggesting that a new and
+wonderful song was possible to him. He was evidently too full of joy to
+keep still.</p>
+
+<p>The English sparrow, who had usurped the martin house in the yard,
+warned him off; the tiny golden warbler, who flitted about the shrubbery
+all day, threatened to annihilate him, but with infantile innocence he
+refused to understand hostility; he stared at his assailant, and he held
+his ground. The little flock of four was captivating to see, and though
+the mother looked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> ragged and careless in dress, one could but honor the
+little creature who had made the world so delightful a gift as four
+beautiful new bluebirds, in whose calm eyes</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Shines the peace of all being without cloud."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Other young birds were plentiful in those warm July days. From morning
+till night the chipping sparrow baby, with fine streaked breast, uttered
+his shrill cricket-like trill. No doubt he had already found out that he
+would get nothing in this world without asking, so, in order that
+nothing escape him, his demand was constant. The first broods of English
+sparrows had long before united in a mob, and established themselves in
+the grove, and the nests were a second time full of gaping infants
+calling ever for more. The energies of even this unattractive bird were
+so severely taxed that he spared us his comments on things in general,
+and our affairs in particular. In the wood, young high-holes thrust
+their heads out of the door and called; blackbird and martin babies flew
+over with their parents, talking eagerly all the way; barn swallow
+nestlings crowded up to the window-sill to look out and be fed by
+passing mothers; and cautious young kingbirds, in black caps, dressed
+their feathers on the edge of the nest.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>But days hurried on; before long, young birds were as big as their
+fathers and had joined the ranks of the grown-ups. There were no more
+babies left on tree or lawn, and holiday time was over.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>IN SEARCH OF THE BLUEJAY.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">The</span> grass grows up to the front door, and the forest comes down to the
+back; it's the end of the road, and the woods are full of bluejays."</p>
+
+<p>Such was the siren song that lured me to a certain nook on the side of
+the highest mountain in Massachusetts one June. The country was
+gloriously green and fresh and young, as if it had just been created.
+From my window I looked down the valley beginning between Greylock and
+Ragged Mountain, and winding around other and (to me) nameless hills
+till lost in the distance, apparently cut square off by what looked like
+an unbroken chain from east to west. The heavy forests which covered the
+hills ended in steep grass-covered slopes, with dashing and hurrying
+mountain brooks between, and, save the road, scarcely a trace of man was
+seen.</p>
+
+<p>The birds were already there. The robin came on to the rail fence, and
+with rain pouring off his sleek coat, bade us "Be cheery! be cheery!"
+the bluebird sat silent and motionless on a fence post; the "veery's
+clarion" rang out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> all the evening from the valley below; many little
+birds sang and called; and</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"The gossip of swallows filled all the sky."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>But the bluejays?</p>
+
+<p>The bluejays, too, were there. One saucily flirted his tail at me from
+the top of a tree; another sly rogue flaunted his blue robes over a wall
+and disappeared the other side; a third shrieked in my face and slipped
+away behind a tree; but one and all were far too wise to reveal their
+domestic secrets. I knew mysteries were on foot among them, as we know
+little folk are in mischief by their unnatural stillness, but I knew
+also that not until every jay baby was out of the nest, and there was
+nothing to hide, should I see that cunning bird in his usual noisy,
+careless r&ocirc;le.</p>
+
+<p>The peculiarity of that particular corner of nature's handiwork was that
+any way you went you had to climb, except east, where you might roll if
+you chose; in fact, you could hardly do otherwise. The first day of my
+hunt I started west. I climbed a hill devoted to pasture, passed through
+the bars, and faced my mountain. It presented a compact front of
+spruce-trees closely interlaced at the ground, and of course impassable.
+But a way opened in the midst, the path of a mountain brook, deserted
+now and dry. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> sought an alpenstock. I abandoned all impedimenta. I
+started up that stony path escorted on each side by a close rank of
+spruce. It was exceedingly steep, for the way of a brook on this
+mountain-side is a constant succession of falls. I scrambled over rocks;
+I stumbled on rolling stones; I "caught" on twigs and dead branches; I
+crept under fallen tree trunks; the way grew darker and more winding.
+How merrily had the water rushed down this path, so hard to go up! How
+easy for it to do so again! Nothing seemed so natural. I began to look
+and listen for it.</p>
+
+<p>A mysterious reluctance to penetrating the heart of the mountain by this
+unknown and strangely hewn path stole over me. I felt like an intruder.
+Who could tell what the next turn might reveal? On a fallen trunk that
+barred my way I seated myself to rest. The silence was oppressive; not a
+bird called, not a squirrel chattered, not an insect hummed. The whole
+forest was one vast, deep, overwhelming solitude. I felt my slightest
+rustle an impertinence; I could not utter a sound; surely the spirit of
+the wood was near! A strange excitement, almost amounting to terror,
+possessed me. I turned and fled&mdash;that is to say, crept&mdash;down my steep
+and winding stair, back to the bars where I had taken leave of
+civilization (in the shape of one farmhouse).</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p><p>Here I paused, and again the legend of bluejays allured me. From the
+bars, turning sharply to one side, were the tracks of cows. The strange
+feeling of oppression vanished. Wherever the gentle beasts had passed, I
+could go, sure of finding sunny openings, grassy spots, and nothing
+uncanny. Meekly I followed in their footsteps; the solemn grandeur of
+the forest had so stirred me that even the footprint of a cow was
+companionable.</p>
+
+<p>This path led down through a pleasant fringe of beech and birch and
+maple trees to a beautiful brook, which was easily crossed on stones,
+then up the bank on the other side into an open pasture with scattering
+spruce and other trees. Now I began to look for my bluejays. I disturbed
+the peace of a robin, who scolded me roundly from the top spire of a
+spruce. I started out in hot haste a dainty bit of bird life&mdash;the black
+and yellow warbler. I listened to the delightsome song of the
+field-sparrow. I heard the far-off drumming of the partridge. I walked
+and climbed myself tired.</p>
+
+<p>Then I sat down to wait. I made a nosegay of blue violets and sweetbrier
+leaves; I regaled myself with wintergreens in memory of my childhood; I
+wrote up my note-book; but never a blue feather did I see.</p>
+
+<p>The next day, between showers, I tried the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> north, with a guide&mdash;a
+visiting Massachusetts ornithologist&mdash;to show me a partridge nest with
+the bird sitting. We followed the ups and downs of the road for a mile,
+passing a meadow full of bobolinks,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Bubbling rapturously, madly,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>climbed by a grass-grown wood road a mountain-side pasture, and reached
+the forest. Under a dead spruce sat my lady, in a snug bed among the
+fallen leaves. She was wet; her lovely mottled plumage was disarranged
+and draggled, but her head was drawn down into her feathers in patient
+endurance, the mother love triumphant over everything, even fear. We
+stood within six feet of the shy creature; we discussed her courage in
+the face of the human monsters we felt ourselves to be. Not a feather
+fluttered, not an eyelid quivered; truly it was the perfect love that
+casteth out fear.</p>
+
+<p>My guide went on up to the top of Greylock; I turned back to pursue my
+search.</p>
+
+<p>Eastward was my next trip, down toward the brook that made a valley
+between Greylock and Ragged Mountain. My path was under the edge of the
+woods that fringed a mountain stream. Not the smallest of the debt we
+owe the bonny brook is that it wears a deep gully, whose precipitous
+sides are clothed with a thick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> growth of waving trees&mdash;beech, white and
+black birches, maple, and chestnut&mdash;in refreshing and delightful
+confusion. The stream babbled and murmured at my side as I walked slowly
+down, peering in every bush for nests, and at last I parted the branches
+like a curtain and stepped within. It was a cool green solitude, a
+shrine, one of nature's most enchanting nooks, sacred to dreams and
+birds and&mdash;woodchucks, one of which sat straight up and looked solemnly
+at me out of his great brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>I sat on the low-growing limb of a tree, and was rocked by the wind
+outside. I forgot my object. What did it matter that I should find my
+bluejay? Was it worth while to go on? Was anything worth while, indeed,
+except to dream and muse, lulled by the music of the "laughing water"?
+Ah! if one were a poet!</p>
+
+<p>Then the birds came. A cat-bird first, with witching low song, eying me
+closely with that calm, dark eye of his, the while he poured it out from
+a shrub,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Like dripping water falling slow<br />
+Round mossy rooks, in music rare;"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>a vireo, repeating over and over his few notes in tireless warble; high
+up in the maple across the chasm, a sweet-voiced goldfinch singing his
+soul away outside; and lastly, a robin, who broke the charm by a
+peremptory demand to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> know my business in his private quarters. I rose
+to leave him in possession. In rising I disturbed another resident, a
+red squirrel, who ran out on a branch and delivered as vehement a piece
+of mind as I ever heard, stamping his little feet and jerking his bushy
+tail with every word, scolding all over, to the tip of his longest hair.</p>
+
+<p>I left them in their green paradise. I went to my room. I sat down in my
+rocker to consider.</p>
+
+<p>Then the winds got up. Through the "bellows pipe," as they suggestively
+call the head of the valley, there poured such a gale that the birds
+could hardly hold on to their perches. All day long it tossed the
+branches, tore off leaves, beat the birds, rattled the windows, and
+filled the blue cover to our green bowl of a valley with clouds, even
+half way down the sides of the mountains themselves. And at last they
+began to weep, and I spent my twilight by an open window, wrapped in a
+shawl, listening to the</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Unrivaled one, the hermit-thrush,<br />
+Solitary, singing in the west,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>and looking out upon the hills, where I still hoped to find my bluejay.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>IN THE WOOD LOT.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">There's</span> blue jays a-plenty up in the wood lot," said the farmer's boy,
+hearing me lament my unsuccessful search for that wily bird. "There's
+one pair makes an awful fuss every time I passes."</p>
+
+<p>I immediately offered to accompany the youth on his next trip up the
+mountain, where he was engaged in dragging down to our level, sunshine
+and summer breezes, winter winds and pure mountain air, in the shape of
+the bodies of trees, whose noble heads were laid low by the axes last
+winter. One hundred and fifty cords of beauty, the slow work of
+unnumbered years, brought down to "what base uses"! the most beautiful
+of nature's productions degraded to the lowest service&mdash;to fry our bacon
+and bake our pies!</p>
+
+<p>The farmer did not look upon it exactly in that way; he called it
+"cord-wood," and his oxen dragged it down day by day. The point of view
+makes such a difference!</p>
+
+<p>The road that wound down through the valley, skirting its hills,
+bridging its brooks, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>connecting the lonely homestead with the rest
+of the human world, had on one side a beautiful border of all sorts of
+greeneries, just as Nature, with her inimitable touch, had placed them.
+It was a home and a cover for small birds; it was a shade on a warm day;
+it was a delight to the eye at all times. Yet in the farmer's eye it was
+"shiftless" (the New Englander's bogy). The other side of the road he
+had "improved;" it gloried in what looked at a little distance like a
+single-file procession of glaring new posts, which on approaching were
+found to be the supports of one of man's neighborly devices&mdash;barbed
+wire. Rejoicing in this work of his hands on the left, he longed to turn
+his murderous weapons against the right side. He was labored with; he
+bided his time; but I knew in my heart that whoever went there next
+summer would find that picturesque road bristling with barbed wire on
+both sides. It will be as ugly as man can make it, but it will be "tidy"
+(New England's shibboleth), for no sweet green thing will grow up beside
+it. Nature doesn't take kindly to barbed wire.</p>
+
+<p>The old stone wall at that time was an irresistible invitation to the
+riotous luxuriance of vines. Elder-bushes, with their fine cream-colored
+blossoms, hung lovingly over it; blackberry bushes, lovely from their
+snowy flowering to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> their rich autumn foliage, flourished beside it; and
+a thousand and one exquisite, and to me nameless, green things hung upon
+it, and leaned against it, and nearly covered it up. And what a garden
+of delight nestled in each protected corner of an old-fashioned zigzag
+fence! Yet all these are under the ban&mdash;"shiftless."</p>
+
+<p>Thanks be to the gods who sowed this country so full of stones and
+trees, that the army of farmers who have worried the land haven't
+succeeded in turning it into the abomination of desolation they admire!</p>
+
+<p>And now, having relieved my mind, I'll go on with the bluejay hunt.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning it was, for a rarity, fine. I started up the wood road
+ahead of my guide, so that I might take my climb as easily as such a
+thing can be taken. Passing through the bare pasture, I entered the
+outlying clumps of spruce which form the advance-guard of the forests on
+Greylock, and here my leader overtook me, urging his fiery steeds, with
+their empty sled. Now horned beasts have had a certain terror for me
+ever since an exciting experience with them in my childhood. I stood
+respectfully on one side, prepared to fly should the "critters" (local)
+show malicious intent. On they came, looking at me sharply with wicked
+eyes. I made ready for a rush, when, lo! they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> turned from me, and
+dashed madly into a spruce-tree, nearly upsetting themselves, and
+threatening to run away. We were all afraid of each other.</p>
+
+<p>The mortified driver apologized for their behavior on the ground that
+"they ain't much used to seeing a lady up in the wood lot." I generously
+forgave them, and then meekly followed in their footsteps, up, up, up
+toward the clouds, till we reached the bluejay neighborhood. Here we
+parted. My escort passed on still higher, and I seated myself to see at
+last my bluejays.</p>
+
+<p>Dead silence around me. Not a leaf stirred; not a bird peeped. I began
+to make a noise myself&mdash;calls and imitations (feeble) of bird-notes to
+arouse their curiosity; a bluejay is a born investigator. No sign of
+heaven's color appeared except in the patches of sky between the leaves.</p>
+
+<p>Other wood dwellers came; a rose-breasted grosbeak, with lovely rosy
+shield, with much posturing and many sharp "clicks," essayed to find out
+what manner of irreverent intruder this might be. Later his modest
+gray-clad spouse joined him. They circled around to view the wonder on
+all sides. They exchanged dubious-sounding opinions. They were as little
+"used to seeing a lady" as the oxen. They slipped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> away, and in a moment
+I heard his rich song from afar.</p>
+
+<p>No one else paid the slightest attention to my coaxing, and I returned
+by easy stages to the spruces, where I had the misfortune to arouse the
+suspicion of a robin. Do you know what it is to be under robin
+surveillance? Let but one redbreast take it into his obstinate little
+head that you are a suspicious character, and he mounts the nearest
+tree&mdash;the very top twig, in plain sight&mdash;and begins his loud "Peep!
+peep! tut, tut, tut! Peep! peep! tut, tut, tut!"</p>
+
+<p>This is his tocsin of war, and soon his allies appear, and then</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"From the north, from the east, from the south and the west,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Woodland, wheat field, corn field, clover,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Over and over, and over and over,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Five o'clock, ten o'clock, twelve, or seven,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nothing but robin-calls heard under heaven."</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>No matter what you do or what you don't do. One will perch on each side
+of you, and join the maddening chorus, driving every bird in the
+neighborhood either to join in the hue and cry (as do some of the
+sparrows), or to hide himself from the monster that has been discovered.</p>
+
+<p>I tried to tire them out by sitting absolutely motionless; but three,
+who evidently had business in the vicinity, for each held a mouthful of
+worms, guarded me to right and left and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> front, and never ceased
+their offensive remarks long enough to stuff those worms into the mouths
+waiting for them.</p>
+
+<p>I was not able to convince them that I had no designs on robin
+households, and I had to own myself defeated again. Then and there I
+abandoned the search for the bluejay.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BLUEJAY BABY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My</span> time of triumph came, however, a little later. Birds may securely
+hide their nests, but they cannot always silence their nestlings. So
+soon as little folk find their voices, whether their dress be feathers,
+or furs, or French cambric, they are sure to make themselves heard and
+seen.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, two or three weeks after I had given up the bluejay search,
+and consoled myself with looking after baby cat-birds and thrushes, I
+started out as usual for a walk. I turned naturally into a favorite path
+beside a brook that danced down the mountain below the house. It was
+near the bottom of a deep gully, where I had come to grief in my search
+for a veery baby.</p>
+
+<p>As I passed slowly up, looking well to my steps, and listening for
+birds, I heard a note that aroused me at once,&mdash;the squawk of a bluejay.
+It came from the higher ground, and I looked about for a pathway up the
+steep bank on my right. At the most promising point I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> could select I
+started my climb. Unfortunately that very spot had been already chosen
+by a small rill, a mere trickle of water, to come down. It was not big
+enough to make itself a channel and keep to it, but it sprawled all over
+the land. Now it lingered in the cows' footprints and made a little
+round pool of each; then it loitered on a level bit of ground, and
+soaked it full; when it reached a comfortable bed between the roots of
+trees, it almost decided to stay and be a pond, and it dallied so long
+before it found a tiny opening and straggled out, that if it did not
+result in a pond, it did accomplish a treacherous quagmire. In fact that
+undecided, feeble-minded streamlet totally "demoralized" the whole
+hillside, and with its vagaries I had to contend at every step of my
+way.</p>
+
+<p>I reached the top, but I left deep footprints to be turned into pools of
+a new pattern, and as trophy I carried away some of the soil on my
+dress. Of my shoes I will not speak; shall we not have souls above
+shoe-leather?</p>
+
+<p>As soon as I recovered breath after my hasty scramble to dry ground, I
+started toward a thick-growing belt of spruce trees which came down from
+the mountain and ended in a point,&mdash;one tree in advance, like the leader
+of an army. Here I found the bird I was seeking, a much disturbed
+bluejay, who met me at the door&mdash;so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> to speak&mdash;with a defiant squawk, a
+warning to come no nearer.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah ha!" said I, exultingly, "are your little folk in there? Then I
+shall see them."</p>
+
+<p>I slowly advanced; she disputed my passage at every step, but nothing
+was to be seen till her anxiety got the better of her discretion and she
+herself gave me the precious secret; she suddenly slipped through the
+trees to the other side, and became perfectly silent.</p>
+
+<p>I could not follow her path through the tangle of trees, but I could go
+around, and I did. On a dead spruce wedged in among the living ones I
+saw the object of her solicitude; a lovely sight it was! Two young
+bluejays huddled close together on a twig. They were "humped up," with
+heads drawn down into their shoulders, and breast feathers fluffed out
+like snowy-white floss silk, completely covering their feet and the
+perch. No wonder that poor little mother was anxious, for a more
+beautiful pair I never saw, and to see them was to long to take them in
+one's hands.</p>
+
+<p>Silent and patient little fellows they appeared, looking at me with
+innocent eyes, but showing no fear. They were a good deal more concerned
+about something to eat, and when their mother came they reminded her by
+a low peep that they were still there. She gave them nothing; she was
+too anxious to get them out of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> my sight, and she disappeared behind a
+thick branch.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment I heard the cry of a bird I could not see. So also did the
+twins on the tree, and to them it meant somebody being fed; they lifted
+their little wings, spread out like fans their short beautiful tails,
+and by help of both, half hopped, half flew through the branches to the
+other side.</p>
+
+<p>I followed, by the roundabout way again, and then I saw another one.
+Three bonny bairns in blue were on that dead spruce tree; two close
+together as before, and the third&mdash;who seemed more lively&mdash;sitting
+alone. He lifted his crest a little, turned his head and looked squarely
+at me, but seeing nothing to alarm him&mdash;wise little jay!&mdash;did not move.
+Then again mamma came forward, and remonstrated and protested, but only
+by her one argument, a squawk.</p>
+
+<p>I quietly sat down and tried to make myself as much a part of the bank
+as possible, for I wanted the distracted dame in blue to go on with her
+household duties, and feed those babies. After a while she did calm down
+a little, though she kept one distrustful eye on me, and now and then
+came near and delivered a squawk at me, as if to assure me that she saw
+through my man&#339;uvres, and despised them.</p>
+
+<p>But I cared not at that moment for her opinion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> of me; she did not move
+my sympathies as do many birds, for she appeared insulted and angry, not
+in the least afraid. I wanted to see her feed, and at last I
+did&mdash;<i>almost</i>; she was to the last too sharp for me.</p>
+
+<p>She came with a mouthful of food. Each one of the three rose on his
+sturdy little legs, fluttered his wings, opened his beak and cried. It
+was a sort of whispered squawk, which shows that the bluejay is a wary
+bird even in the cradle. When they were all roused and eager, the mother
+used that morsel as a bait to coax them through the tree again. She did
+not give it to either of her petitioners, but she moved slowly from
+branch to branch, holding it before them, and as one bird they followed,
+led by their appetite, like bigger folk,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Three souls with but a single thought,<br />
+Three hearts that beat as one!"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>and as I had no desire to see them die of starvation, and leave the
+world so much poorer in beauty, I came away and left them to their
+repast.</p>
+
+<p>That was not the end of the bluejay episode. A few days later a young
+bird, perhaps one of this very trio, set out by himself in search of
+adventures. Into the wide-open door of the barn he flew, probably to see
+for what the swallows were flying out and in. Alas for that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> curious
+young bird! He was noticed by the farmer's boy, chased into a corner,
+still out of breath from his first flight, then caught, thrust into an
+old canary cage, brought to the house, and given to the bird-student.</p>
+
+<p>Poor little creature! he was dumb with fright, though he was not
+motionless. He beat himself against the wires and thrust his beak
+through the openings, in vain efforts to escape. We looked at him with
+great interest, but we had not the heart to keep him very long. In a few
+minutes he was taken out of the cage in a hand (which he tried to bite),
+carried to the door and set free.</p>
+
+<p>Away like a flash went the little boy blue and alighted in a tree beside
+the house. For a few moments he panted for breath, and then he opened
+his mouth to tell the news to whom it might concern. In rapid succession
+he uttered half a dozen jay-baby squawks, rested a moment, then repeated
+them, hopping about the tree in great excitement.</p>
+
+<p>In less than thirty seconds his cries were answered. A bluejay appeared
+on the barn; another was seen in a spruce close by; three came to a tall
+tree across the road; and from near and far we heard the calls of
+friends trooping to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the birds of the neighborhood,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> where the squawk of a jay was
+seldom heard, began to take an interest in this unusual gathering. Two
+cedar birds, with the policy of peace which their Quaker garb suggests,
+betook themselves to a safe distance, a cat-bird went to the tree to
+interview the clamorous stranger, a vireo made its appearance on the
+branches, and followed the big baby in blue from perch to perch, looking
+at him with great curiosity, while a veery uttered his plaintive cry
+from the fence below.</p>
+
+<p>All this attention was too much for a bluejay, who always wants plenty
+of elbow room in this wide world. He flew off towards the woods, where,
+after a proper interval to see that no more babies were in trouble, he
+was followed by his grown-up relatives from every quarter. But I think
+they had a convention to talk it over, up in the woods, for squawks and
+cries of many kinds came from that direction for a long time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IN_THE_BLACK_RIVER_COUNTRY" id="IN_THE_BLACK_RIVER_COUNTRY"></a>IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY.</h2>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>Where shall we keep the holiday?<br />
+<br />
+Up and away! where haughty woods<br />
+Front the liberated floods:<br />
+We will climb the broad-backed hills,<br />
+Hear the uproar of their joy;<br />
+We will mark the leaps and gleams<br />
+Of the new-delivered streams,<br />
+And the murmuring river of sap<br />
+Mount in the pipes of the trees.<br />
+<br />
+And the colors of joy in the bird<br />
+And the love in his carol heard.<br />
+Frog and lizard in holiday coats,<br />
+And turtle brave in his golden spots.<br />
+<br /></p>
+<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Emerson.</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THAT WITCHING SONG.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A year</span> or two before setting up my tent in the Black River Country,
+began my acquaintance with the author of the witching song.</p>
+
+<p>The time was evening; the place, the veranda of a friend's summer
+cottage at Lake George. The vireo and the redstart had ceased their
+songs; the cat-bird had flirted "good-night" from the fence; even the
+robin, last of all to go to bed, had uttered his final peep and vanished
+from sight and hearing; the sun had gone down behind the mountains
+across the lake, and I was listening for the whippoorwill who lived at
+the edge of the wood to take up the burden of song and carry it into the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there burst upon the silence a song that startled me. It was
+loud and distinct as if very near, yet it had the spirit and the echoes
+of the woods in it; a wild, rare, thrilling strain, the woods themselves
+made vocal. Such it seemed to me. I was strangely moved, and filled from
+that moment with an undying determination to trace that witching song to
+the bird that could utter it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p><p>"I'm going to seek my singer," was the message I flung back next
+morning, as, opera-glass in hand, I started down the orchard towards the
+woods. I followed the path under the apple-trees, passed the daisy
+field, white from fence to fence with beauty,&mdash;despair of the farmer,
+but delight of the cottagers,&mdash;hurried across the pasture beyond,
+skirting the little knoll on which the cow happened this morning to be
+feeding, crossed the brook on a plank, and reached my daily walk.</p>
+
+<p>This was a broad path that ran for half a mile on the edge of the lake.
+Behind it, penetrated every now and then by a foot-path, was the bit of
+old woods that the clearers of this land had the grace to leave, to
+charm the eye and refresh the soul (though probably not for that
+reason). Before it stretched the clear, sparkling waters of Lake George,
+and on the other side rose abruptly one of the beautiful mountains that
+fringe that exquisite piece of water.</p>
+
+<p>Usually I passed half the morning here, seated on one of the rocks that
+cropped out everywhere, filling my memory with pictures to take home
+with me. But to-day I could not stay. I entered one of the paths, passed
+into the grand, silent woods, found a comfortable seat on a bed of pine
+needles, with the trunk of a tall maple tree for a back, and prepared
+to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> wait. I would test Thoreau's assertion that if one will sit long
+enough in some attractive spot in the woods, sooner or later every
+inhabitant of it will pass before him. I had confidence in Thoreau's
+woodcraft, for has not Emerson said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"What others did at distance hear,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And guessed within the thicket's gloom,</span><br />
+Was shown to this philosopher,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And at his bidding seemed to come"?</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>and I resolved to sit there till I should see my bird. I was confident I
+should know him: a wild, fearless eye, I was sure, a noble bearing, a
+dweller on the tree-tops.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! I forgot one phrase in Thoreau's statement: "sooner or <i>later</i>."
+No doubt the Concord hermit was a true prophet; but how many of the
+inhabitants are "later"&mdash;too late, indeed, for a mortal who, unlike our
+New England philosopher, has such weak human needs as food and rest, and
+whose back will be tired in spite of her enthusiasm, if she sits a few
+hours on a rock, with a tree for a back.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the sweet and shy residents of that lovely bit of wildness
+showed themselves while I waited. A flicker, whose open door was in
+sight, and who was plainly engaged in setting her house in order,
+entertained me for a long time. Silently she stole in, I did not see
+how.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> Her first appearance to me was on the trunk, the opposite side
+from her nest, whence she slid, or so it looked, in a series of jerks to
+her door, paused a few minutes on the step to look sharply at me, and
+then disappeared, head first, within. Quick as a jack-in-the-box, her
+head popped out again to see if the spy had moved while she had been out
+of sight, and finding all serene, she threw herself with true feminine
+energy into her work. The beak-loads she brought to the door and flung
+out seemed so insufficient that I longed to lend her a broom; but I
+found she had a better helper than that, a partner.</p>
+
+<p>When she tired, or thought she had earned a rest, she came out, and
+flying to the limb above the nest, began softly calling. Never was the
+ventriloquial quality more plainly exhibited. I heard that low "ka! ka!
+ka! ka! ka!" long repeated, and I looked with interest in every
+direction to see the bird appear. For a long time I did not suspect the
+sly dame so quietly resting on the branch, and when I did it was only by
+the closest inspection that I discovered the slight jerk of the tail,
+the almost imperceptible movement of the beak, that betrayed her.</p>
+
+<p>Another as well as I heard that call, and he responded. He was exactly
+like her, with the addition of a pair of black "mustachios," and it may
+be she told him that the strange object <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>under the maple had not moved
+for half an hour, and was undoubtedly some new device of man's, made of
+wood perhaps, for he did not hesitate on the door-step, but plunged in
+at once, and devoted himself to the business in hand, clearing out,
+while she vanished.</p>
+
+<p>But though I watched this domestic scene with pleasure, and saw and
+noted every feather that appeared about me, the tree-tops had my closest
+attention, for there I was certain I should find my rare singer. Hours
+passed, the shadows grew long, and sadly and slowly I took my way
+homewards, wishing I had a charm against fatigue, mosquitoes, and other
+terrors of the night, and could stay out till he came.</p>
+
+<p>All through the month of June I haunted that wood, seeking the unknown.
+Every evening I heard him, but no sight came to gladden my eyes. I grew
+almost to believe it merely "a wandering voice," and I went home with my
+longing unsatisfied.</p>
+
+<p>When next the month of roses came around, I betook myself to a spur of
+the Hoosac Mountains to see my birds. The evening of my arrival, as the
+twilight gathered, rose the call of my witching voice.</p>
+
+<p>"What bird is that?" I demanded, with the usual result; no one knew. (A
+chapter might be written on the ignorance of country people of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> their
+own birds and plants. A chapter, did I say? A book, a dozen books, the
+country is full of material.)</p>
+
+<p>"I shall find that bird," I said, "if I stay a year." In the morning I
+set out. The song had come from the belt of trees that hang lovingly
+over a little stream on its merry way down the mountain, and thither I
+turned my steps. Now, my hostess had a drove of twenty cows, wild,
+head-tossing creatures,&mdash;"Holsteins" they were,&mdash;and having half a dozen
+pastures, they were changed about from day to day. Driving them every
+morning was almost as exciting as the stampede of a drove of horses, and
+it seemed as if they could never reconcile themselves to the
+idiosyncrasies of the American woman. The pasture where they were shut
+for the day was as sacred from my foot as if it were filled with mad
+dogs. My mere appearance near the fence was a signal for a headlong race
+to the spot to see what on earth I was doing now.</p>
+
+<p>I went into the field, looking cautiously about, and satisfying myself
+that the too curious foreigners were not within sight, found a
+comfortable seat on a bank overlooking the whole beautiful view of the
+brook and its waving green borders, and commanding the approach to my
+side of the field.</p>
+
+<p>This time again my mysterious singer proved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> to be among the "later"
+ones, and after spending an hour or two there, I rose to go back, when
+in passing a thick-growing evergreen tree, I saw that I had created a
+panic. There was a flutter of wings, there were cries, and on the tree,
+in plain sight, the towhee bunting and his brown-clad spouse. Of course
+there must be some reason for this reckless display; I sought the cause,
+and found a nest, a mere depression in the ground, and one sorry-looking
+youngster, the sole survivor of the perils of the situation. Over that
+one nestling they were as concerned as the proverbial hen with one
+chicken, and they flitted about in distress while I looked at their
+half-fledged bantling, and hoped it was a singer to ring the delightful
+silver-toned tremolo that had charmed me that morning.</p>
+
+<p>That evening, listening on the piazza to the usual twilight chorus, the
+wood-thrush far-off, the towhee from the pasture, the robins all around,
+I heard suddenly the "quee-o" of a bird I knew, so near that I started,
+and my eyes fell directly upon him, standing on the lowest limb of a
+dead tree, not ten feet from me.</p>
+
+<p>He was so near I did not need my glass, nor indeed did I dare move a
+finger, lest he take flight. Several times he uttered his soft call, and
+then, while my eyes were fastened upon him, he began quivering with
+excitement, his wings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> lifted a little, and in a clear though low tone
+he uttered the long-sought song. I held my breath, and he repeated it,
+each time lower than before. Even at that distance it sounded far off,
+and doubtless many times in the woods, when I looked for it afar, it may
+have been over my head.</p>
+
+<p>A long time&mdash;how long I cannot guess&mdash;that beautiful bird sat and sang
+his witching evening hymn, while I listened spellbound.</p>
+
+<p>It was the tawny thrush,&mdash;the veery.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VEERY MOTHER.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My</span> next interview with the veery family took place the following June,
+at the foot of Mount Greylock, in Massachusetts. I had just returned
+from a walk down the meadow, put on wrapper and slippers, and
+established myself by the window to write some letters. Pen, ink, paper,
+and all the accessories were spread out before me. I dipped my pen in
+the ink and wrote "My Dear," when a sound fell upon my ears: it was the
+cry of a young bird! it was new to me! it had a veery ring!</p>
+
+<p>Away went my good resolutions, and my pen with them; papers flew to
+right and left; hither and thither scattered the letters I had meant to
+answer. I snatched my glass, seized my hat as I passed, and was
+outdoors. In the open air the call sounded louder, and plainly came from
+the borders of the brook that with its fringe of trees divides the yard
+from the pasture beyond. It was a two-syllabled utterance like "quee
+wee," but it had the intermitted or tremolo sound that distinguishes the
+song of the tawny thrush from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> others. I could locate the bird almost to
+a twig, but nobody cared if I could. It was on the other side of the
+brook and the deep gully through which it ran, and they who had that
+youngster in charge could laugh at me.</p>
+
+<p>But I knew the way up the brookside. I went down the road to the bars,
+crossed the water on stepping-stones, and in a few minutes entered a
+cow-path that wandered up beside the stream. All was quiet; the young
+thrush no doubt had been hushed. They were waiting for me to pass by, as
+I often did, for that was a common walk of mine. On this log I sat one
+day to watch a woodchuck; a little further on was the rock from which I
+had peeped into a robin's nest, where one egg had been alone a week, and
+I never saw a robin near it.</p>
+
+<p>At length I reached the path that ran up the bank where I usually turned
+and went to the pasture, for beyond this the cow-path descended, and
+looked damp and wild, as if it might once have been the way of the cows,
+but now was abandoned. Still all was quiet, and I thought of my letters
+unanswered, of my slippers, and&mdash;and I turned to go back.</p>
+
+<p>Just at that moment that unlucky young thrush opened his mouth for a
+cry; the birds had been too sure. I forgot my letters again, and looked
+at the path beyond. I thought I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> could see a dry way, so I took a step
+or two forward. This was too much! this I had never before done, and I
+believe those birds were well used to my habits, for the moment I passed
+my usual bounds a cry rang out, loud, and a bird flew past my head. She
+alighted near me. It was a tawny thrush; and when one of those shy
+birds, who fly if I turn my head behind the blinds, gets bold, there's a
+good reason for it. I thanked madam for giving me my cue; I knew now it
+was her baby, and I walked slowly on.</p>
+
+<p>I had to go slowly, for the placing of each foot required study. It is
+surprising what a quantity of water will stand on the steep sides of a
+mountain. Some parts of this one were like a marsh, or a saturated
+sponge, and everywhere a cow had stepped was a small pool. As I
+proceeded the thrush grew more and more uneasy. She came so near me that
+I saw she had a gauzy-winged fly in her mouth, another proof that she
+had young ones near. She called, without opening her beak, her usual low
+"quee."</p>
+
+<p>Finding a dry spot, and the baby-cry having ceased, I sat down to
+consider and to wait. Then the bird seemed suddenly to remember how
+compromising her mouthful was, and she planted herself on a branch
+before my eyes, deliberately ate that fly and wiped her beak, as who
+should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> say, "You thought I was carrying that morsel to somebody, but
+you see I have eaten it myself; there's nothing up that path." But much
+as I respected the dear mother, I did not believe her eloquent
+demonstration. I selected another point where I could stop a minute, and
+picked my way to it. Then all my poor little bird's philosophy deserted
+her; she came close to me, she uttered the greatest variety of cries;
+she almost begged me to believe that she was the only living creature up
+that gully. And so much did she move me, so intolerably brutal did she
+make me feel, that for the second time I was very near to turning back.</p>
+
+<p>But the cry began again. How could I miss so good a chance to see that
+tawny youngster, when I knew I should not lay finger on it? I hardened
+my heart, and struggled a few feet further.</p>
+
+<p>Then some of the neighbors came to see what was the trouble, and if they
+could do anything about it. A black-and-white creeper rose from a low
+bush with a surprised "chit-it-it-it," alighted on a tree and ran glibly
+up the upright branch as though it were a ladder. But a glance at the
+"cause of all this woe" was more than his courage could endure; one cry
+escaped him, and then a streak of black and white passed over the road
+out of sight.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p><p>Next came a redstart, himself the head of a family, for he too had his
+beak full of provisions. He was not in the least dismayed; he perched on
+a twig and looked over at me with interest, as if trying to see what the
+veery found so terrifying, and then continued on his way home. A
+snow-bird was the last visitor, and he came nearer and nearer, not at
+all frightened, merely curious, but madam evidently distrusted him, for
+she flew at him, intimating in a way that he plainly understood that
+"his room was better than his company."</p>
+
+<p>Still I floundered on, and now the disturbed mother added a new cry,
+like the bleating of a lamb. I never should have suspected a bird of
+making that sound; it was a perfect "ba-ha-ha." Yet on listening
+closely, I saw that it was the very tremolo that gives the song of the
+male its peculiar thrill. Her "ba-ha-ha," pitched to his tone, and with
+his intervals, would be a perfect reproduction of it. No doubt she could
+sing, and perhaps she does,&mdash;who knows?</p>
+
+<p>Now the mother threw in occasionally a louder sort of call-note like
+"pee-ro," which was quickly followed by the appearance of another
+thrush, her mate, I presume. He called, too, the usual "quee-o," but he
+kept himself well out of sight; no reckless mother-love made him lose
+his reason. Still, steadily though slowly, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> with many pauses to
+study out the next step, I progressed. The cry, often suppressed for
+minutes at a time, was perceptibly nearer. The bank was rougher than
+ever, but with one scramble I was sure I could reach my prize. I started
+carefully, when a cry rang out sudden and sharp and close at hand. At
+that instant the stone I had put faith in failed me basely and rolled:
+one foot <i>went in</i>, a dead twig caught my hair, part of my dress
+remained with the sharp end of a broken branch, I came to one knee (but
+not in a devotional spirit); I struck the ground with one hand and a
+brier-bush with the other, but I did not drop my glass, and I reached my
+goal in a fashion.</p>
+
+<p>I paused to recover my breath and give that youngster, who I was
+persuaded was laughing at me all the time, a chance to lift up his voice
+again. But he had subsided, while the mother was earnest as ever.
+Perhaps I was too near, or had scared him out of his wits by my
+sensational entry. While I was patiently studying every twig on the tree
+from which the last cry had come, the slight flutter of a leaf caught my
+eye, and there stood the long-sought infant himself.</p>
+
+<p>He was a few feet below me. I could have laid my hands upon him, but he
+did not appear to see me, and stood like a statue while I studied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> his
+points. Mamma, too, was suddenly quiet; either she saw at last that my
+intentions were friendly, or she thought the supreme moment had come,
+and was paralyzed. I had no leisure to look after her; I wanted to make
+acquaintance with her bairn, and I did. He was the exact image of his
+parents; I should have known him anywhere, the same soft, tawny back,
+and light under-parts, but no tail to be seen, and only a dumpy pair of
+wings, which would not bear him very far. The feathers of his side
+looked rough, and not fully out, but his head was lovely and his eye was
+the wild free eye of a veery. I saw the youngster utter his cry. I saw
+him fly four or five feet, and then I climbed the bank, hopeless of
+returning the way I had come, pushed my way between detaining spruces,
+and emerged once more on dry ground. I had been two hours on the trail.</p>
+
+<p>I slipped into the house the back way, and hastened to my room, where I
+counted the cost: slippers ruined, dress torn, hand scratched, toilet a
+general wreck. But I had seen the tawny-thrush baby, and I was happy.
+And it's no common thing to do, either. Does not Emerson count it among
+Thoreau's remarkable feats that</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"All her shows did Nature yield<br />
+To please and win this pilgrim wise;<br />
+He found the tawny thrush's brood,<br />
+And the shy hawk did wait for him"?<br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TAWNY THRUSH'S BROOD.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">He</span> found the tawny thrush's brood," says Emerson, in enumerating the
+special gifts of the nature-lover whose praise he celebrates. Whether
+the reference were to Thoreau or to another "forest-seer," it was
+certainly to a fortunate and happy man, whom I have always envied till I
+learned to find the shy brood myself.</p>
+
+<p>I shall never forget the exciting and blissful moment when I discovered
+my first tawny-thrush nest. It was the crowning event of a long search.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until the fourth year that I had looked for him, that I came
+really to know the bird, to see his family, and last of all his nest. My
+summer abiding-place in the Black River country was very near a bit of
+woods where veeries were plentiful, and I saw them at all hours, and
+under nearly all conditions.</p>
+
+<p>My favorite seat was at the foot of a low-growing tree in the edge of
+the woods, where the branches hung over and almost hid me. From<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> under
+my green screen I could look out into a field golden with buttercups,
+with scattering elms and maples, while behind me was the forest, the
+chosen haunt of this bird. Here, unseen, I listened to his song,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"O matchless melody! O perfect art!<br />
+O lovely, lofty voice unfaltering!"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>till my soul was filled with rapture, and a longing to know him in his
+home relations took such possession of me that the world seemed to hold
+but one object of desire, a veery's nest.</p>
+
+<p>Yet though the woods were full of them, so wary and so wise were the
+little builders that not a nest could I find. I studied the descriptions
+in the books; I examined the nests in a collection at hand. The books
+declared, and the specimens confirmed the statement, that the cradle of
+the tawny thrush would be found amid certain surroundings. Many such
+places existed in the woods, and I never passed one without seeking a
+nest; but always unsuccessfully, till, as June days were rapidly
+passing, I came to have a feeling something akin to despair when I heard
+the veery notes.</p>
+
+<p>One day,&mdash;it was Sunday afternoon,&mdash;I was still grieving over the lost,
+or rather the unfound nest, and my friend was sitting composedly on the
+veranda writing letters, when restlessness seized me, and I resolved to
+take a quiet walk.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> I sauntered slowly down the road, towards the woods,
+of course; all roads in that charming place led to the woods.</p>
+
+<p>I had nearly reached the "Sunset Corner," where I had a half-formed
+intention of resting and then turning back, when my eyes fell upon&mdash;but
+hold! I will not describe it, lest I enlighten one more collector, and
+aid in the robbery, perhaps the death, of one more bird-mother. Suffice
+it to say what I saw resembled, though not perfectly, the surroundings
+of a veery's nest as described in the books.</p>
+
+<p>Of course there could be no nest there, I thought, yet the ruling
+passion asserted itself at once. It would at least do no harm to look. I
+left the path, walked carelessly up to the spot, and looked at it. It
+seemed empty of life; but as I gazed, there gradually took form a head,
+a pair of anxious eyes fixed upon mine, a beak pointed upward, and there
+was my nest! almost at my feet.</p>
+
+<p>Joy and surprise contended within me. I thought not of the mother's
+anxiety; I stood and stared, absolutely paralyzed with delight.</p>
+
+<p>But not for long. I remembered my friend who had not found the tawny
+thrush's nest, and with whom I must instantly share my happiness, and
+carefully marking the locality, not to lose what I had so accidentally
+found, and might so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> easily lose, I moved quietly away till I reached
+the road. Then I hurried to an opening in the trees from which the house
+could be seen. Here I stopped; the letter-writer looked up. I waved my
+green bough in triumph above my head, and with the other hand I
+beckoned.</p>
+
+<p>"A veery's nest!" she thought at once. Away went paper and pen, and in a
+moment she joined me. Together we stood beside the beautiful sitting
+thrush, so brave, though no doubt suffering from deadly terror. Then we
+slowly walked away, rejoicing. It was so near the house! so easy to
+watch! the bird not at all afraid! All the way home we congratulated
+ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning our first thought was of the veery's nest, and on
+starting out for the day we turned in that direction. Alas! the old
+story! The nest was overturned and thrown out of place, the leaves were
+trampled; there had evidently been a struggle of some kind. No birds, no
+eggs, not a bit of broken shell&mdash;nothing was left, except one dark brown
+spotted feather from a large bird, whether hawk or owl I shall never
+know, for neglecting to take it at the moment, it was gone when I
+thought of it as a witness.</p>
+
+<p>Again the old longing for a nest assailed me; but I was not without
+hope, for I had my hint. I had found out what sort of places the
+veeries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> in this neighborhood liked. After that I never went into the
+woods, on whatever errand bent, but I kept my eyes open for the chosen
+situation. I examined dozens of promising spots, and I found nests that
+had been used, which proved that I was on the right track, and kept up
+my courage.</p>
+
+<p>It was several days before another tawny-thrush cradle in use gladdened
+our eyes, and this was in a wild part of the woods where we seldom went.
+We were drawn there by the song of a tiny warbler, whose nest my friend
+desired to find, since it was rare; and in passing a thicket of maple
+saplings three feet high, she discovered a nest. She quickly parted the
+leaves and looked in; three young birds opened their mouths for food.
+"Veeries!" she exclaimed, in surprise. "What a strange place!"</p>
+
+<p>This little home rested on a bare dead stick that had fallen and lodged
+in a living branch, and the dead leaves used by veeries in their
+building made it conspicuous, when the eyes happened to fall upon it;
+but it was so well concealed by living branches that one might pass
+fifty times and not see it. I describe this location, for it was very
+unusual.</p>
+
+<p>We looked at the birdlings; we walked on till we came to the place where
+we turned from the path to see the warbler's little domicile. My<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> friend
+passed along. I lingered a moment, for it was a lovely spot, attractive
+to birds as to bird-lovers, and high up in the air on the upturned roots
+of a fallen tree</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">"an elder or two</span><br />
+Foamed over with blossoms white as spray."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>While I stood there admiring the brave little bush that kept on living
+and blooming, though lifted into an unnatural position by the tree at
+whose feet it had grown, some mysterious drawing made me look closely at
+a spot beside the road which we had passed many times without special
+notice. There I found our third veery nest, the mother bird sitting.</p>
+
+<p>Henceforth, every morning we went up the veery road, and before each
+little nursery we sat us down to watch and study. It was necessary to be
+very quiet, the birds in the saplings were so nervous; but keeping still
+in the woods in summer is not the easy performance it is elsewhere,
+though great are the inducements. From one side comes the chirp of the
+winter wren, from the other, low, excited calls of veeries, and nothing
+but absolute quiet seems necessary to capture some of the charming
+secrets of their lives. Meanwhile a dancing and singing host collects
+around one's head. I call up my philosophy; I resolve not to care,
+though I shall be devoured. My philosophy stands the strain; I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> do not
+<i>care</i>; but my nerves basely fail me, and after a few moments, and a
+dozen stings here and there, I spring involuntarily to my feet, wildly
+flourish my wisp of leaves, and of course put to instant flight the
+actors in the drama before me.</p>
+
+<p>The pair of veeries in the maple bushes were never reconciled to our
+visits. They called and cried in all the varied inflections of their
+sweet voices, and they moved uneasily about on the low branches with
+mouths full of food. But though we were as motionless as circumstances
+would permit, they never learned to trust us.</p>
+
+<p>One&mdash;the mother, doubtless&mdash;did sometimes pay a flying visit to her
+three darlings under the leaves; but she undoubtedly felt that she took
+her life in her hands (so to speak), and it did not give her courage.
+She returned to her post and cried no less than before. We were not
+heartless; we could not bear to torture the timid creatures, and
+therefore we never stayed very long.</p>
+
+<p>Every day we looked at the growing babies, who passed most of their time
+in sleep, as babies should; and at last came the time, sooner than
+expected, when we found the family had flitted. Nestlings cradled near
+the ground seem to be spared the long period in the nest endured by
+birdlings who must be able to fly before they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> can safely go. Young
+veeries and bobolinks, song sparrows and warblers, who build low,
+apparently take leave of the nursery as soon they can stand up.
+Thereafter the parents must seek them on the ground; and if the student
+follows their chirps, he will often see the droll little dumpy fellows
+running about or crouched under bushes until their wing feathers shall
+grow and lift them to the bird's world, above the dull earth.</p>
+
+<p>After the exit of the family in the maples, we kept closer watch of the
+remaining nest. Every day we passed it, and not always at the same hour,
+yet never but once did we find the mother away, and seven days after
+that morning, when not one youngster had broken the shell, the family
+was gone.</p>
+
+<p>The young birds in the maples we had seen in the nest for five days
+after they were hatched, so we were forced to believe that either the
+second nest had been robbed, or that the mother had watched for us, and
+flown to cover her babies after they were hatched, till we had paid our
+daily visit and passed on. This latter may be the correct conclusion,
+and if so, her conduct was entirely different from that of any veery I
+have seen.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever cause had emptied the thrush cradle we found no signs of
+disturbance about it, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> we heard no lamentations. But we did hear
+from every impenetrable tangle in the woods, the baby-cries of young
+thrushes; and we ventured to hope that no hawk or owl or squirrel, or
+other foe in feathers or in fur, had carried off the nestlings of that
+brave brown-eyed mamma.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A MEADOW NEST.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A bird's</span> nest in the middle of a meadow is as isolated as if on an
+island; for the most eager bird student, though he may look and long
+afar off, will hesitate before he harrows the soul of the owner of the
+fair waving sea of grass by trampling it down. In such a secure place,
+among scattered old apple-trees, a pair of veeries had set up their
+household, surrounded and protected from every enemy who does not wear
+wings.</p>
+
+<p>They were late in nesting, for young veeries were out everywhere.
+Doubtless the first home had been destroyed, and they had selected this
+retreat in the midst of the tall grass for its seclusion and apparent
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>What dismay, then, must have filled the heart of the timid creatures
+when there arrived, one morning, a party of men and horses and machines,
+who proceeded at once, with the clatter and confusion which follows the
+doings of men, to lay low their green protecting walls, and expose their
+cherished treasures to the greed or the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> cruelty of their worst enemies!
+Not less their surprise and grief when, after the uproar of cutting,
+raking and carrying away their only screen, there entered the silent but
+watchful spies, who planted their stools in plain sight, to take note of
+all their doings.</p>
+
+<p>The nest, with its babies three, was wide open to the sun; no one could
+pass without seeing it. It was in a cluster of shoots growing up from
+the roots of an old apple-tree, and so closely crowded between them that
+its shape was oval.</p>
+
+<p>The nestlings were nearly ready to fly, and I hoped that birds brave
+enough to come out of the woods and build among apple-trees would be
+less afraid of people than the woods dwellers. So when I learned of my
+comrade's discovery I hastened at once to make the acquaintance of this,
+our fourth nesting-veery of the summer.</p>
+
+<p>The parents were absent when I seated myself at some distance from their
+homestead to wait. They soon came, together, with food in their mouths;
+but their eager, happy manner vanished at sight of me, and they
+abandoned themselves to utter despair, after the manner of veeries. They
+stood motionless on neighboring perches, and cried and bewailed the
+anticipated fate of those babies for all of the short time that I was
+able to endure it. A kingbird came to the tree under which I sat, to see
+for himself the terrible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> bugaboo, and a robin or two, as usual,
+interested themselves in the affairs of a neighbor in trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Thirty minutes proved to be as long as I could bring myself to stay, and
+then I meekly retired to the furthest corner of the field, where I made
+myself as inconspicuous as possible, and hoped I might be allowed to
+remain. Kingbird and robins accepted the compromise and returned to
+their own affairs; but the veeries by turns fed the babies and reviled
+me from a tree near my retreat, till I took pity on their distress and
+left the orchard altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Not only does the veery exhibit this strong liking for solitude, and
+express the loneliness of the woods more perfectly than any other bird,
+with the exception, perhaps, of the wood-pewee; but his calls and cries
+are all plaintive, many of them sensational, and one or two really
+tragic.</p>
+
+<p>His most common utterance, as he flits lightly from branch to branch, is
+a low, sweet "quee-o," sometimes hardly above a whisper. When everything
+is quiet about him one may often hear an extraordinary performance.
+Beginning the usual call of "quee-o," in a tender and mournful tone, he
+will repeat it again and again at short intervals, every time with more
+pathetic inflection, till the wrought-up listener cannot resist the
+feeling that the next sound must be a burst of tears. Although his notes
+seem melancholy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> to hearers, however, the beautiful bird himself is far
+from expressing that emotion in his manner.</p>
+
+<p>Aside from the enchanting quality of his calls, and the thrilling
+magnetism of his song, the tawny thrush is an exceedingly interesting
+bird. In his reserved way he is socially inclined, showing no dislike to
+an acquaintance with his human neighbors, and even evincing a curiosity
+and willingness to be friendly, most winning to see.</p>
+
+<p>Speak to one who, as you passed, has flown up from the ground and
+alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, looking at you with clear, calm
+eyes. He will not fly; he will even answer you. You may stand there half
+an hour and talk to him and hear his low replies. It seems as if it were
+the easiest thing in the world to inspire him with perfect confidence,
+to coax him to a real intimacy. But there is a limit to his
+trustfulness. When he has a nest and little ones to protect, as already
+shown, he is a different bird; he is wild with terror and distress, and
+refuses to be comforted when one approaches the sacred spot.</p>
+
+<p>This unfortunate distrust of one's intentions makes it very hard for a
+student who loves the individual bird to watch his nest. One can't
+endure to give pain to the gentle and winsome creature. The mournful,
+despairing cry of both parents, "ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik!" constantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+repeated, makes me, at least, feel like a robber and a murderer, and no
+number of "facts" to be gained will compensate me for the suffering thus
+caused.</p>
+
+<p>One more phase of veery character I was surprised and delighted to
+learn. Sitting on a log in the edge of the woods one evening, just at
+sunset, I listened to the singing of one of these birds quite close to
+me, but hidden from sight. I had never been so near a singer, and I was
+surprised to hear, after every repetition of his song, a low response, a
+sort of whispered "chee." Was it his mate answering, or criticising his
+music? Was it the first note of his newly-fledged offspring? Or could it
+be <i>sotto voce</i> remarks of the bird himself? It was impossible to
+decide, and I went home much puzzled to account for it; but a day or two
+later the mystery was solved,&mdash;the thrush showed himself to be a
+humorist.</p>
+
+<p>The odd performance by which I discovered this fact I saw through my
+closed blind. The bird was in plain sight on a small dead tree, but it
+was a retired spot, where he was accustomed to see no one, and he
+evidently did not suspect that he had a listener.</p>
+
+<p>He had eaten his fill from a cluster of elderberries I had hung on the
+tree, and he lingered to sing a little, as he often did. First he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>uttered a call, aloud, clear "quee-o," and followed it instantly by a
+mocking squawk in an undertone. I could hardly believe my eyes and ears,
+and at once gave much closer attention to him. As if for the express
+purpose of convincing me that I had not been mistaken, he instantly
+repeated his effort; and after doing so two or three times, he poured
+out his regular song in his sweet, ringing voice, and followed it by a
+whispered "mew," almost exactly in the tone of pussy herself.</p>
+
+<p>He was not far from my window, across a small yard, and as plainly seen
+through my glass as though not six feet away. I saw his beak and throat,
+and am absolutely certain that he delivered every note. The absorbed
+singer stood there motionless a long time, and carried on this queer
+conversation with himself. It sounded precisely like two birds, one of
+whom was mocking or ridiculing the other in a low tone.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the undertone, as said above, was a squawk; again it resembled
+a squeal; now it was petulant, as though the performer scoffed at his
+own singing; and then it was a perfect copy of the song itself, given in
+an indescribably sneering manner. I could think of nothing but the way
+in which one child will sometimes mock the words of another.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p><p>It was very droll, as well as exceedingly interesting, and I hope some
+day to study further this unfamiliar side of the thrush nature.</p>
+
+<p>After my unsuccessful attempt to disarm the fears and suspicions of the
+meadow-nesting thrushes, we left the little family to its much loved
+solitude, and in a day or two the whole nestful departed.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A JUNE ROUND OF CALLS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">I should</span> like to meet you two in that rig on Fifth Avenue," calmly said
+our hostess one morning in June, as we started out on our regular round
+of calls.</p>
+
+<p>What a suggestion! We stared at each other with a new standard of
+criticism in our eyes. We were not exactly in ordinary visiting costume;
+but then, neither were we making ordinary visits, for the calling-list
+of June differs in every way from that of January. The neighbors at
+whose doors we appeared would be quite as well (or as ill) pleased to
+see us in our dull green woods dress, with fresh leaves on our hats to
+convey the impression that we were mere perambulating shrubs, with
+opera-glasses instead of cards, and camp-stools in place of a carriage,
+as though we had been in regulation array. Away we went, the big dog
+prancing ahead with the camp-stool of his mistress.</p>
+
+<p>Our first call was upon a small dame very high up in the world, thirty
+feet at least. The mention of Fifth Avenue suggests that possibly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> our
+manners were not above criticism. We introduced ourselves to Madam
+Wood-Pewee not by ringing and sending up cards, but by pausing before
+her door, seating ourselves on our stools, and leveling our glasses at
+her house. We felt, indeed, that we had almost a proprietary interest in
+that little lichen-covered nest resting snugly in a fork of a dead
+branch, for we had assisted in building it, at least by our daily
+presence, during the week or two that she spent in bringing, in the most
+desultory way, snips of material, fastening them in place, and moulding
+the whole by getting in the nest and pressing her breast against it,
+while turning slowly round and round. Now that she had really settled
+herself to sit, we never neglected to leave a card upon her, so to
+speak, every morning.</p>
+
+<p>As we approached we were pleased to see her trim lord and master bearing
+in his mouth what was no doubt intended for a delicate offering to cheer
+her weary hours, for a gauzy yellow wing stuck out on each side of his
+beak, suggesting something uncommonly nice within. He stood a moment
+till we should pass, looking the picture of unconsciousness, and defying
+us to assert that he had a house and home anywhere about that tree. But
+when we did not pass, after hesitatingly hopping from perch to perch
+nearer the nest, he deliberately diverted yellow wing from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> its original
+destiny, swallowed it himself, and wiped his beak with an air that said:
+"There now! What can you make out of that?"</p>
+
+<p>Ashamed to have deprived the little sitter of her treat, we folded our
+stools and resumed our march.</p>
+
+<p>How shall one put into words the delights of the woods in June without
+"dropping into poetry?" Does not our own native poet say:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Who speeds to the woodland walks?<br />
+To birds and trees who talks?<br />
+C&aelig;sar of his leafy Rome,<br />
+There the <i>poet</i> is at home."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>But if one is not a poet, must he then suffer and enjoy in silence? When
+he puts aside the leafy porti&egrave;re and enters the cool green paradise of
+the trees, must he be dumb? Slowly, almost solemnly, we walked up the
+beautiful road with its carpet of dead leaves. It was as silent of man's
+ways as if he were not within a thousand miles, and we had all the
+enjoyment of the deep forest, with the comforting assurance that five
+minutes' walk would bring us to people.</p>
+
+<p>A small family in dark slate-color and white, with a curious taste for
+the antique cave-dwelling, was next on our list. The home was an
+excavation in the soft earth, held together by the roots of an
+overturned tree, and everything was quiet when we arrived&mdash;the two
+well-grown <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>infants sound asleep on their hair mattress. We sat down to
+wait, and in a moment we heard the anxious "pip" of the returning
+parents. They had been attending to their regular morning work, and both
+brought food for those youngsters, who woke inopportunely&mdash;as babies
+will&mdash;and demanded it instantly.</p>
+
+<p>Junco&mdash;for he was the head of this household&mdash;paused on a twig near by,
+opened and shut his beautiful white-bordered tail, in the embarrassing
+consideration whether he should go in before our eyes and take the risk
+of our intentions, or let his evidently starving offspring suffer. He
+"eyed us over;" he waited till his modest little spouse, acting from
+feeling rather than from judgment (as was to be expected from one of her
+unreasoning sex), had slipped in from below, administered her morsel to
+those precious babies, and escaped unharmed. Then he plucked up courage,
+boldly entered his door, gave a poke behind it, and flew away.</p>
+
+<p>A week later, after we had called as usual one morning and found the
+house empty, he brought his pretty snow-birdlings in their tidy striped
+bibs up to the grove at the back door, where we often heard his sharp
+trilling little song, and saw him working like some bigger papas to keep
+the dear clamorous mouths filled.</p>
+
+<p>The Junco neighborhood was a populous part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> of our calling district.
+Behind his cave, in a high tree, lived a family of golden-winged
+woodpeckers, who "laughed" and talked as loud as they liked, scorning to
+look upon the two spies so far below them. Not quite so self-possessed
+and bold were they a little later, when madam came up to the grass by
+the farmhouse with her young son to teach him to dig, for that is what
+she did. He was a canny youngster, though he was shy, and had no notion
+of being left in the lurch for a moment. If mamma flew to the fence, he
+instantly followed; did she return to the ground, baby was in a second
+at her side demanding attention. On one occasion while I was watching
+them behind my blind, the mother managed to slip away from him and
+disappear. In a moment he realized his deserted condition, stretched up,
+like a lost chicken, looking about on every side, and calling, in a most
+plaintive tone, "pe-au! au!" and then, "au! au! pe-au!" When at length
+he saw his mother, he burst into a loud cry of delight, and flew into a
+locust-tree, where I heard for a long time low complaining cries, as if
+he reproached her for leaving her baby alone on the fence.</p>
+
+<p>On the right of the home of the golden wings, in a sapling not more than
+five feet from the ground, was the residence of a gay little redstart,
+which we had watched almost from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> laying of the foundations. We made
+our visit. Yesterday there were two pearls of promise within; to-day,
+alas! nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Squirrels, we said; for those beasts were the bugaboo of the woods to
+its feathered inhabitants. Hardly a nest was so high, so well hidden, or
+so closely watched, but some unlucky day a little fellow&mdash;sportsman,
+would you call him?&mdash;- in gray or red fur, would find his chance, and
+make his breakfast on next year's song birds.</p>
+
+<p>Musing on this and other tragedies among our friends, we silently turned
+to the next neighbor. At this door we could knock, and we always did.
+(We desired to be civil when circumstances permitted.) A rap or two on
+the dead trunk brought hastily to the door, twenty-five feet high, a
+small head, with a bright red cap and necktie, and eager, questioning
+eyes. Observing that he had guests, he came out, showing his black and
+white coat. But one glance was usually enough; he declined to entertain
+us, and instantly took his leave. We knew him well, however&mdash;the
+yellow-bellied woodpecker, or "sapsucker," as he was called in the
+vicinity. This morning we did not need to knock, for one of the family
+was already outside,&mdash;a young woodpecker, clinging to the bark, and
+dressing his nest-ruffled plumage for the grand performance, his first
+flight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> We resolved at once to assist at the d&eacute;but, secured reserved
+seats with a good view, and seated ourselves to wait.</p>
+
+<p>Didst ever, dear reader, sit in one position on a camp-stool without a
+back, with head thrown back, and eyes fixed upon one small bird thirty
+feet from the ground, afraid to move or turn your eyes, lest you miss
+what you are waiting for, while the sun moves steadily on till his
+hottest rays pour through some opening directly upon you; while
+mosquitoes sing about your ears (would that they sang only!), and flies
+buzz noisily before your face; while birds flit past, and strange notes
+sound from behind; while rustling in the dead leaves at your feet
+suggests snakes, and a crawling on your neck proclaims spiders? If you
+have not, you can never appreciate the enthusiasms of a bird student,
+nor realize what neck-breaks and other discomforts one will cheerfully
+endure to witness the first flight of a nestling.</p>
+
+<p>This affair turned out, however, as in many another case of great
+expectations, to be no remarkable performance. When the d&eacute;butant had
+made his toilet, he flew, as if he had done it all his life, to the next
+tree, where he began at once to call for refreshment, after his
+exertion.</p>
+
+<p>Disappointed, we dropped our eyes, whisked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> away our insect tormentors,
+gathered up our properties, and passed on our way.</p>
+
+<p>This was the farthest point of our wanderings. The way back was through
+a narrow path beside the oven-bird's pretty domed nest, then between the
+tangle of wild-berry bushes and saplings, where a cuckoo had set up
+housekeeping, and where veeries and warblers had successfully hidden
+their nests, tantalizing us with calls and songs from morning till
+night; from thence through the garden, past the kitchen door, home.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A BOBOLINK RHAPSODY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Can</span> anything be more lovely than a meadow in June, its tall grass
+overtopped by daisies, whose open faces,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Publish themselves to the sky"?</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>One such I knew, despised of men as a meadow, no doubt, but glorious to
+the eye with its unbroken stretch of white bowing before the summer
+breeze like the waves of the sea, and charming as well to pewee and
+kingbird who hovered over it, ever and anon diving and bringing up food
+for the nestlings. When, to a meadow not so completely abandoned to
+daisies, where buttercups and red clover flourish among the grass, is
+added the music of the meadow's poet, the bobolink, surely nothing is
+lacking to its perfection.</p>
+
+<p>Passing such a field one evening, I noted the babble of bobolinks, too
+far off to hear well, and the next day I set out down another path which
+passed through the meadow, to cultivate the acquaintance of the birds.
+It was a warm summer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> morning, near the middle of June, and when I
+reached the spot not a bobolink was in sight; but I sought a convenient
+bank under an old apple-tree, made myself as inconspicuous as possible,
+and waited. With these birds, however, as I soon found out, my
+precautions were unnecessary. They are not chary of their music; on the
+contrary, they appear to sing directly to a spectator, and they are too
+confident of the security of the nest to be disturbed about that. In a
+moment a black head with its buff cap appeared at the top of a grass
+stem, and instantly the black body, with its grotesque white decoration,
+followed. The bird flew half a dozen feet, singing as he went, as if the
+movement of the wings set the music going, alighted a little nearer,
+sang again, and finally, concluding that here was something to be looked
+after, a human being, such as he was accustomed to see pass by, taking
+possession of a part of the bobolink domain, he flew boldly to a small
+tree a few yards from me. He alighted on the top twig, in plain sight,
+and proceeded to "look me over," a performance which I returned with
+interest. He was silent only a few seconds, but the sound that came from
+his beak amazed me; it was a "mew." If the cat-bird cry resembles that
+of a cat, this was a perfect copy of a kitten's weak wail. It was always
+uttered twice in close<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> succession, and sometimes followed by a harsh
+note that proclaimed his blackbird strain, a "chack!"</p>
+
+<p>His utterance was thus: "mew, mew (quickly), chack!" and I interpreted
+it into a warning to me to leave the premises. I did not go, however,
+and after several repetitions his vigilance began to relax. He was
+really so full of sweet summer madness that it was impossible to keep up
+the r&ocirc;le of stern guardian of the nests under the veil of buttercups and
+daisies, which he knew all the time I could never find. So, when he
+opened his mouth to say "chack," a note or two would irresistibly bubble
+out beside it, as if he said, "You really must go away, my big friend.
+We cannot have you in our fields;&mdash;but, after all, isn't the morning
+delicious?"</p>
+
+<p>After a long conflict between desire to sing and his conviction of duty
+as special policeman, which ludicrously suggested Mr. Dick in his
+struggle between longing to be foolish with David Copperfield and to be
+grave to please Miss Betsy, he fairly gave in and did sing&mdash;and such a
+burst! Everybody has tried his hand at characterizing this bird's
+incomparable song, but no one has fully expressed it, for words are not
+capable of it. Perhaps Mrs. Spofford has caught the spirit as well as
+any one:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>"Last year methinks the bobolinks<br />
+Filled the low fields with vagrant tune,<br />
+The sweetest songs of sweetest June&mdash;<br />
+Wild spurts of frolic, always gladly<br />
+Bubbling, doubling, brightly troubling,<br />
+Bubbling rapturously, madly."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Expressing himself was so great a relief to my bobolink, after his
+unnatural gravity of demeanor, that he repeated the performance again
+and again. I say repeated it; I found that he had two ways of beginning,
+but after he got into his ecstasy I could think of nothing but how
+marvelous it was, so that whether the two differed all through I am not
+sure. It was every time a new rapture to me as well as to him. One of
+his beginnings that I had time to note before I was lost in the flood of
+melody was of two notes, the second a fifth higher than the first, with
+a "grace-note," very low indeed, before each one. The other beginning
+was also two notes, the second at least a fifth lower than the first,
+with an indescribable jerk between, and uttered so softly that if I had
+been a little further away I could not have heard it. It sounded like
+"tut, now."</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that I remained motionless, the bird forgot altogether his
+uncongenial occupation of watchman, and launched himself into the air
+toward me, soaring round and round me, letting fall such a flood, such a
+torrent, of liquid notes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> that I thought half a dozen were singing,&mdash;and
+then dropped into the grass. Soon others appeared here and there, and
+sang it mattered not how or where,&mdash;soaring or beating the wings, on a
+grass stem, the top of a tree, hidden in the grass, or rudely rocked by
+the wind, they "sang and sang and sang."</p>
+
+<p>Then for a while all was still. A turkey leading her fuzzy little brood
+about in the grass thrust her scrawny neck and anxious head above the
+daisies, said "quit! quit!" to me, and returned to the brooding
+mother-tones that kept her family around her. Tiring of my position
+while waiting for the concert to resume, I laid my head back among the
+ferns, letting the daisies and buttercups tower above my
+face,&mdash;strangely enough, by this simple act realizing as never before
+the real motherhood of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>While I lay musing, lo, a sudden burst of music above my head! A
+bobolink sailed over my face, not three feet from it, singing his
+merriest, and then dropped into the grass behind me. Oh, never did I so
+much wish for eyes in the back of my head! He must be almost within
+touch, yet I dared not move; doubtless I was under inspection by that
+keen dark eye, for the first movement sent him away with a whir.</p>
+
+<p>My next visitors were a small flock of six or eight cedar-birds, who
+were seriously disturbed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> by my choice of a couch. Evidently the green
+tent above my head was their chosen tree, and they could not give it up.
+Finding me perfectly silent, they would come, perch in various parts of
+the branches, and turn their wise-looking black spectacles down to look
+at me, keeping up an animated conversation the while. We call the
+cedar-bird silent because he has, as generally supposed, but one low
+note; but he can put into that one an almost infinite variety of
+expressions. If I so much as moved a hand, instantly my Quaker-clad
+friends dived off the tree below the bank across the road, as if, in
+their despair, they had flung themselves madly into the brook at the
+bottom. But I did not suspect them of so rash an act, and, indeed, in a
+few minutes the apple-tree again resounded with their cries.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the sun marched relentlessly on, and the shadows without and
+the feelings within alike pointed to the dinner hour (12 <span class="ampm">M.</span>). I rose,
+and thereby created a panic in my small world. Six cedar-birds
+disappeared over the bank, a song sparrow flew shrieking across the
+field, a squirrel interrupted in his investigations fled madly along the
+rail fence, every few steps stopping an instant, with hindquarters laid
+flat and tail resting on the rail, to see if his head was still safe on
+his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>I gathered up my belongings and sauntered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> off toward home, musing, as I
+went, upon the bobolink family. I had not once seen or heard the little
+mates. Were they busy in the grass with bobolink babies? and did they
+enjoy the music as keenly as I did? How much I "wanted to know"! How I
+should like to see the nests and the nestlings! What sort of a father is
+the gay singer? (Some of the blackbird family are exemplary in this
+relation.) Does he drop his part of poet, of reveler of the meadows, I
+wonder, and come down to the sober prose of stuffing baby mouths? Are
+bobolinks always this jolly, delightful crowd? Are they never
+quarrelsome? Alas! it would take much more than one day, however sunny
+and however long, to tell all these things.</p>
+
+<p>At the edge of the meadow I sat down again, hoping for one more song,
+and then came the crown of the whole morning, the choicest reserved for
+the last. A bird sailed out from behind the daisies, passed over my
+head, and delivered the most bewitching rhapsody I had yet heard. Not
+merely once did he honor me, but again and again without pausing, as if
+he intended to fill me as full of bobolink rapture as he was himself.
+His voice was peculiarly rich and full, and, what amazed me, his first
+three notes were an exact reproduction of the wood-thrush's (though more
+rapidly sung), including<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> the marvelous organ-like quality of that
+bird's voice. I could have listened forever.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Oh, what have I to do with time?<br />
+For this the day was made."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>But when he had uttered his message he sank back into the grass, and I
+tore myself away from the bobolink meadow, and came home far richer and
+far happier than when I set out.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BOBOLINK'S NEST.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My</span> acquaintance with the bobolink was resumed a year later in the lovely
+summer home of a friend in the Black River Country, within sight of the
+Adirondack hills. We had found many nests in the woods and orchards, but
+the meadow had been safe from our feet, partly because of the rich crops
+that covered it, but more, perhaps, because of the hopelessness of the
+search over the broad fields for anything so easily hidden as a ground
+nest.</p>
+
+<p>One evening, however, our host with a triumphant air invited us to walk,
+declaring that he could show us a nest more interesting than we had
+found.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman was a joker, and his statements were apt to be somewhat
+embellished by his vivid imagination, so that we accepted them with
+caution; but now he looked exultant, and we believed him, especially as
+he took his hat and stick and started off.</p>
+
+<p>Down the road we went, a single carriage-way between two banks of grass
+a yard high. After<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> carefully taking his bearings by certain small
+elm-trees, and searching diligently about for an inconspicuous dead twig
+he had planted as a guide-post, our leader confidently waded into the
+green depths, parted the stalks in a certain spot, and bade us look.</p>
+
+<p>We did. In a cosy cup, almost under our feet, were cuddled together
+three bird-babies.</p>
+
+<p>"Bobolinks?" we cried in a breath.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, bobolinks," said our guide; "and you had to wait for an old
+half-blind man to find them for you."</p>
+
+<p>We were too much delighted to be annoyed by his teasing; a bobolink's
+nest we never hoped to see.</p>
+
+<p>Nor should we, but for a discovery of mine that very morning. Walking
+down that same road, I had noticed in the deep grass near the path a
+clump of exquisite wild flowers. They were of gorgeous coloring, shaded
+from deep orange to rich yellow, full petaled like an English daisy, and
+about the size of that flower, with the edge of every tiny petal cut in
+fairy-like fringe. I admired them for some minutes as they grew, and
+then gathered a handful to grace my room. As I came up to the house, my
+host stood on the steps; his eyes fell at once upon my nosegay, and a
+look of horror came into his face.</p>
+
+<p>My heart sank. Had I unwittingly picked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> some of his special treasures,
+some rare exotic which he had cultivated with care?</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you find that stuff?" he demanded. I was instantly relieved;
+no man will call a treasure "stuff."</p>
+
+<p>"In the meadow," I answered. "What is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"You must show me the exact spot," he said, emphatically. "I shall have
+a man out at once, to get it up, root and branch. It's the devil's
+paintbrush."</p>
+
+<p>"Then his majesty has good taste in color," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"That stuff," he went on, "spreads like wildfire. It'll eat up my meadow
+in a year."</p>
+
+<p>I turned back and showed him the spot from which my flowers had come,
+pointing out at the same time two or three other clumps I could see
+farther out in the waving green sea, and before long his farmer and he
+were very busy over them.</p>
+
+<p>Now it appeared that in tramping about the deep grass, where we
+bird-students dared not set our feet, he had nearly stepped on a
+bobolink, who flew, and thus pointed out her nest; and he had taken its
+bearings with the intention of putting us to shame.</p>
+
+<p>We looked long at the tiny trio so compactly packed in their cradle,
+till they awoke and demanded supplies. Then we carefully replanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> the
+dead stick, taking its exact bearings between three trees, drew a few
+grass-stems together in a braid at the margin so that we should not lose
+what we had so accidentally gained, and then we left them.</p>
+
+<p>During this inspection of the nest, the "poet of the year" and his
+spouse were perched on two neighboring trees, utterly unmoved by our
+movements. They were, no doubt, so perfectly confident of the security
+of the hiding-place that it never occurred to them even to look to see
+what we three giants were doing. At least, such we judged were their
+sentiments by the change in their manners somewhat later, when they
+thought we were likely to make discoveries.</p>
+
+<p>The meadow itself had been our delight for weeks. When we arrived, in
+the beginning of June, it was covered with luxuriant clumps of blue
+violets, and great bunches of blue-eyed grass that one might gather by
+the handful at one picking. Later the higher parts were thickly
+sprinkled with white where</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Gracefully as does the fawn,</span><br />
+Sweet Marguerites their dainty heads uphold,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>while the hollows were golden with buttercups. Then the grass under the
+warm June sun stretched up inch by inch till it was three or four feet
+high and very thick. Meanwhile a bobolink or two, and as many
+meadow-larks had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> taken possession of it, and it was made still richer
+by the sweet minor strains of the lark, and the song of the bird who,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 8.5em;">"like the soul</span><br />
+Of the sweet season vocal in a bird,<br />
+Gurgles in ecstasy we know not what."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>The evening after our humiliation&mdash;which we lost sight of in our joy&mdash;we
+returned to the charmed spot, parted again the sweet grass curtains and
+gazed down at the baby bobolinks, while the parents perched on two trees
+as before and paid not the smallest attention to us.</p>
+
+<p>We passed on down the road to the gate where we could look into a
+neighboring pasture and watch for a pair of red-headed woodpeckers who
+lived in that pleasant place, and catch the reflection of the sunset in
+the northern sky. While we lingered there, I looked with my glass back
+at the bobolinks, and chanced to see Bobby himself in the act of diving
+into the grass. When he came out he seemed to notice me, and instantly
+began trying to mislead me.</p>
+
+<p>He came up boldly, flew to another spot where a weed lifted its head
+above the green, and dropped into the grass exactly as though he was
+going to the nest; then he rose again, repeated his tactics, pausing
+every time he came out and calling, as if to say, "This is my home; if
+you're looking for a nest, here it is!" His air was so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> business-like
+that it would naturally deceive one not possessed of our precious
+secret, the real spot where his three babies were cradled, and one might
+easily be led all over the meadow by the wily fellow.</p>
+
+<p>For six successive days we paid our short visits, and found the
+nestlings safe. They did not seem to mature very fast, though they came
+to look up at us, and open their mouths for food. But on the seventh day
+there was a change in Master Robert's behavior. On the afternoon of this
+day, wishing to observe their habits more closely, I found a seat under
+a tree at some distance, not near enough, as I thought, to disturb them.</p>
+
+<p>I did disturb them sorely, however, as instantly appeared. The calmness
+they had shown during all the days we had been looking at the nest was
+gone, and they began to scold at once. The head of the family berated me
+from the top of a grass-stem, and then flew to a tall old stump, and put
+me under the closest surveillance, constantly uttering a queer call like
+"Chack-que-dle-la," jerking wings and tail, and in every way showing
+that he considered me intrusive and altogether too much interested in
+his family affairs. I admitted the charge, I could not deny it; but I
+did not retire.</p>
+
+<p>At last he apparently determined to insist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> upon my going, for he
+started from his high perch directly toward me. Swiftly and with all his
+force he flew, and about twenty feet from me swooped down so that I
+thought he would certainly strike my face. I instinctively dodged, and
+he passed over, so near that the wind from his wings fanned my face.
+This was a hint I could not refuse to take. I left him, for the time.</p>
+
+<p>That evening when we went for our usual call, lo! the nest was empty. At
+not more than seven or eight days of age, those precocious infants had
+started out in the world! That explained the conduct of the anxious papa
+in the afternoon, and I forgave him on the spot. I understood his fear
+that I should discover or step on his babies three, scattered and
+scrambling about under all that depth of grass. The abandoned homestead,
+which we carefully examined, proved to be merely a cup-shaped hollow in
+the ground, slightly protected by a thin lining.</p>
+
+<p>In a few days the wandering younglings were up in front of the house,
+where we could watch the parents drop into the grass with food; and
+where, of course, they were safe from anybody's intrusion. I had one
+more encounter with his lordship. After the young had been out a week or
+more, they seemed in their moving about to get back near to the old
+place. As I took my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> usual walk one evening, down the carriage drive to
+the gate, I found two pairs of bobolinks on one tree; the two mothers
+with food in their mouths, evidently intended for somebody down in the
+grass; and the two fathers, very much disturbed at my appearance. They
+greeted me with severe and reproving "chacks," and finally favored me
+with the most musical call I have heard from the sweet-voiced bird of
+the meadow. It was like "kee-lee!" in loud and rich tones, and it was
+many times repeated.</p>
+
+<p>I assured them that I had no wish to disturb their little ones; though,
+if I had been able to lift the whole grassy cover to peep at the two
+small families hidden there, I fear I should have yielded to the
+temptation.</p>
+
+<p>Our bird had been somewhat erratic in making his home far from his
+fellows,&mdash;so social are these birds even in nesting-time; but now he was
+joined by more of his kind from the meadows below, and to the beautiful
+waving carpet of green, dotted here and there with great bunches of
+black-eyed Susans and devil's paint-brushes (what names!), and sprinkled
+all over with daisies, now beginning to look a little disheveled and
+wild, was added the tantalizing interest of dozens of little folk
+running about under its shelter.</p>
+
+<p>The next week brought to the meadow what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> must seem from the bobolink
+point of view almost the end of the world. Men and horses and great
+rattling machines, armed with sharp knives, which laid low every stem of
+grass and flower, and let the light of the sun in upon the haunts and
+the nests of the bobolink babies.</p>
+
+<p>Happily, however, not all the earth is meadow and subject to this annual
+catastrophe; and I think the whole flock took refuge in a pasture where
+they were safe from the hay-cutters, and had for neighbors only the cows
+and the crow babies.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TANAGER'S NEST.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the prettiest memory-pictures of my delightful June on the banks
+of the Black River is the nest of a scarlet tanager, placed as the
+keystone of one of Nature's exquisite living arches. The path which led
+to it was almost as charming as the nest itself. Lifting a low-hanging
+branch of maple at the entrance to the woods, we took leave of the world
+and all its affairs, and stepped at once into a secluded path. Though so
+near the house, the woods were solitary, for they were private and very
+carefully protected. Passing up the rustic foot-path, under interlacing
+boughs of maple and beech, we came at length to a sunny open spot, where
+all winter grain is kept for partridges, squirrels, and other pensioners
+who may choose to come. From this little opening one road turned to the
+wild-berry field, where lived the cuckoo and the warblers; another
+opened an inviting way into the deep woods; a third went through the
+fernery. We took that, and passed on through a second lovely bit of
+wood, where<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> the ground was wet, and ferns of many kinds grew
+luxuriantly, and the walk was mostly over a dainty corduroy of minute
+moss-covered logs.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the fernery are two ways. The first runs along the edge of
+the forest, whose outlying saplings hang over and make a cool covered
+walk. Down this path I almost had an adventure one day. The morning was
+warm and I was alone. As I came out of this covered passage, beside an
+old stump, I noticed in a depression in the ground at my feet a
+squirming mass of fur. On looking closer I saw four or five little
+beasts rolling and scrambling over each other. They were as big,
+perhaps, as a month-old kitten, but they were a good deal more knowing
+than pussy's babies, for as I drew near they stopped their play and
+waited to see what would happen. I looked at them with eager interest.
+They were really beautiful; black and white in stripes, with long bushy
+tails. Black and white, and so self-possessed!&mdash;a thought struck me.
+"Mephitis," I gasped, and instantly put several feet more between us. So
+attractive and playful were they, however, that notwithstanding I feared
+it might be hard to convince their mamma, should she appear, of my
+amiable intentions, I could not resist another look. Calm as a summer
+morning walked off one of the mephitis babies, holding his pretty tail<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>
+straight up like a kitten's, while the other four went on with their
+frolic in the grass. At this moment I heard a rustle in the dead leaves,
+and having no desire to meet their grown-up relatives, I left in so
+great haste that I took the wrong path, and finally lost myself for a
+time in a tangle of wild raspberry bushes, whose long arms reached out
+on every side to scratch the face and hands or catch the dress of the
+unwary passer-by.</p>
+
+<p>The other of the two ways spoken of was a road, soft-carpeted with dead
+leaves. To reach the tanager's nest we took that, and came, a little
+further on, to a big log half covered with growing fungi and laid
+squarely across the passage. This was the fungus log, another landmark
+for the wanderer unfamiliar with these winding ways. On this, if I were
+alone, I always rested awhile to get completely into the woods spirit,
+for this is the heart of the woods, with nothing to be seen on any side
+but trees. Cheerful, pleasant woods they are, of sunny beech, birch,
+maple, and butternut, with branches high above our heads, and a far
+outlook under the trees in every direction. There is no gloom such as
+evergreens make; no barricade of dark impenetrable foliage, behind which
+might lurk anything one chose to imagine, from a grizzly bear to an
+equally unwelcome tramp.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p><p>In this lovely spot come together four roads and a path, and to the
+pilgrim from cities they seem like paths into paradise. That on the
+right leads by a roundabout way to the "corner," where one may see the
+sunset. The next, straight in front, is the passage to the nest of the
+winter wren. The far left invites one to a wild tangle of fallen trees
+and undergrowth, where veeries sing, and enchanting but maddening
+warblers lure the bird-lover on, to scramble over logs, wade into
+swamps, push through chaotic masses of branches, and, while using both
+hands to make her way, incidentally offer herself a victim to the
+thirsty inhabitants whose stronghold it is. All this in a vain search
+for some atom of a bird that doubtless sits through the whole, calmly
+perched on the topmost twig of the tallest tree, shielded by a leaf, and
+pours out the tantalizing trill that draws one like a magnet.</p>
+
+<p>Between this road and the wren's highway a path runs upward. It is
+narrow, and guarded at the opening by a mossy log to be stepped over,
+but it is most alluring. Up that route we go. On the left as we pass we
+notice two beautiful nests in saplings, so low that we can look in;
+redstarts both, and nearly always we find madam at home. We pass on,
+step over a second mossy log, pause a moment to glance at a vireo's
+hanging cradle on the right, and arrive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> at length at a crossing road,
+on the other side of which our path goes on, with a pile of logs like a
+stile to go over. Over the logs we step, walk a rod or two further, stop
+beside the blackened trunk of a fallen tree, turn our faces to the left,
+and behold the nest.</p>
+
+<p>Before us is one of nature's arches. A maple sapling, perhaps fifteen
+feet high, has in some way been bowed till its top touched the ground
+and became fastened there, a thing often seen in these woods. Thus
+diverted from its original destiny of growing into a tree, it has kept
+its "sweetness and light," sent out leaves and twigs through all its
+length, and become one of the most beautiful things in the woods&mdash;a
+living arch. Just in the middle of this exquisite bow, five feet above
+the ground, is the tanager's nest, well shielded by leaves. We never
+should have found it if the little fellow in scarlet had not made so
+much objection to our going up this particular passage that we suspected
+him of having a secret in this quarter. He went ahead of us from tree to
+tree, keeping an eye on us, and calling, warily, "chip-chur!" When we
+sat down a few moments to see what all the fuss was about, we saw his
+spouse in her modest dress of olive green on a low branch. She, too,
+uttered the cry "chip-chur!" and seemed disturbed by our call. Looking
+around for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> object of their solicitude, our eyes fell at the same
+instant on the nest. We dared not speak, but an ecstatic glance from my
+comrade, with a hand laid on her heart to indicate her emotions,
+announced that our hopes were fulfilled; it was the nest we were
+seeking.</p>
+
+<p>The birds, seeing that we meant to stay, flew away after a while, and we
+hastened to secrete ourselves before they should return, by placing our
+camp-stools in a thick growth of saplings just higher than our heads. We
+crowned ourselves with fresh leaves, not as conquerors, though such we
+felt ourselves, but as a disguise to hide our heads. We daubed our faces
+here and there with an odorous (not to say odious) preparation warranted
+to discourage too great familiarity on the part of the residents already
+established in that spot. We subsided into silence.</p>
+
+<p>The birds returned, but were still wary. As before, the male perched
+high and kept a sharp eye out on the country around, and I have no doubt
+soon espied us in our retreat. Madam again tried to "screw her courage
+up" to visit that nest. Nearer and nearer she came, pausing at every
+step, looking around and calling to her mate to make sure he was near.
+At last, just as she seemed about to take the last step and go in, and
+we were waiting breathless for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> her to do it, a terrific sound broke the
+silence. The big dog, protector and constant companion of my
+fellow-student, overcome by the torment of mosquitoes, and having no
+curiosity about tanagers to make him endure them, had yielded to his
+emotions and sneezed. Away went the tanager family, and, laughing at the
+absurd accident, away we went too, happy at having discovered the nest,
+and planning to come the next day. We came next day, and many days
+thereafter, but never again did we see the birds near. They abandoned
+the nest, doubtless feeling that they had been driven away by a
+convulsion of nature.</p>
+
+<p>One day, somewhat later, in the winter wren's quarter, where there were
+pools left by a heavy rain, we met them again. Madam was bathing, and
+her husband accompanied her as guard and protector. They flew away
+together. All of June we heard him sing, and we often followed him, but
+never again did we surprise a secret of his, till the very last day of
+the month. We had been making a visit to our veery nests, and on our way
+back noticed that the tanager was more than usually interested in our
+doings. He seemed very busy too, with the air of a person of family.
+While we were watching to see what it meant, he caught a flying insect
+and held it in his mouth. Then we knew he had little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> folk to feed, so
+we seated ourselves on the fungus log, and waited for him to point one
+out. He did. He could not resist giving that delicate morsel to his
+first-born. With many wary approaches, he dropped at last into the
+scanty undergrowth, and there, a foot above the ground, we saw the young
+tanager. He was a little dumpling of a fellow, with no hint in his
+baby-suit of the glory that shall clothe him by and by. But where was
+the mother? and where had they nested? But for that untimely sneeze, as
+I shall always believe, they would have made their home in that
+beautiful nest on the arch, and we should have been there to see.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WILES OF A WARBLER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Hark to that petulant chirp! What ails the warbler?<br />
+Mark his capricious ways to draw the eye."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> called him the blue, but that was not his whole name by any means.
+Fancy a scientist with a new bird to label, contenting himself with one
+word! His whole name is&mdash;or was till lately&mdash;black-throated blue-backed
+warbler, or <i>Dendroica c&#339;rulescens</i>, and that being fairly set down
+for future reference for whom it may concern, I shall call him
+henceforth, as we did in the woods, the blue.</p>
+
+<p>For a day or two at first he was to us, like many another of his size,
+only a "wandering voice." But it was an enticing voice, a sweet-toned
+succession of <i>z-z-z</i> in ascending scale, and it was so persistent that
+when we really made the attempt, we had no trouble in getting sight of
+the little beauty hardly bigger than one's thumb. He was a wary little
+sprite, and though he looked down upon us as we turned opera-glasses
+toward him,&mdash;a battery that puts some birds into a panic,&mdash;he was not
+alarmed. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> probably made up his mind then and there, that it should be
+his special business to keep us away from his nest, for really that
+seemed to be his occupation. No sooner did we set foot in the woods than
+his sweet song attracted us. We followed it, and he, carelessly as it
+seemed, but surely, led us on around and around, always in a circle
+without end.</p>
+
+<p>My fellow bird-student became fairly bewitched, and could not rest till
+she found his nest. For my part I gave up the warbler family long ago,
+as too small, too uneasy, too fond of tree-tops, to waste time and
+patience over. In these her native woods, my comrade led in our walks,
+and the moment we heard his tantalizing <i>z-z-z</i> she turned irresistibly
+toward it. I followed, of course, happy to be anywhere under these
+trees.</p>
+
+<p>One morning she tracked him inch by inch till she was fortunate enough
+to trace him to a wild corner in the woods given up to a tangle of
+fallen trees, saplings, and other growth. She went home happy, sure she
+was on the trail. The next day we turned our steps to that quarter and
+penetrated the jungle till we reached a moderately clear spot facing an
+impenetrable mass of low saplings. There we took our places, to wait
+with what patience we might for the blue.</p>
+
+<p>Our lucky star was in the ascendant that day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> for we had not been there
+three minutes before a small, inconspicuous bird dropped into the bushes
+a few feet from us. My friend's eye followed her, and in a second fell
+upon the nest the little creature was lining, in a low maple about two
+feet from the ground.</p>
+
+<p>But who was she? For it is one of the difficulties about nests, that the
+brightly-colored male, whom one knows so well, is very sure not to show
+himself in the neighborhood, and his spouse is certain to look just like
+everybody else. However, there is always some mark by which we may know,
+and as soon as the watcher secured a good look she announced in an
+excited whisper, "We have it! a female blue, building."</p>
+
+<p>So it proved to be, and we planted our seats against trees for backs,
+and arranged ourselves to stay. The dog seeing this preparation, and
+recognizing it as somewhat permanent, with a heavy sigh laid himself out
+full length, and composed himself to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The work over that nest was one of the prettiest bits of bird-life I
+ever watched. Never was a scrap of a warbler, a mere pinch of feathers,
+so perfectly delighted with anything as she with that dear little
+homestead of hers. It was pretty; it looked outside like the dainty
+hanging cradle of a vireo, but instead of being suspended from a
+horizontal forked twig, it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> held in an upright fork made by four
+twigs of the sapling.</p>
+
+<p>The little creature's body seemed too small to hold her joy; she simply
+could not bring her mind to leave it. She rushed off a short distance
+and brought some infinitesimal atom of something not visible to our
+coarse sight, but very important in hers. This she arranged carefully,
+then slipped into the nest and moulded it into place by pressing her
+breast against it and turning around.</p>
+
+<p>Thus she worked for some time, and then seemed to feel that her task was
+over, at least for the moment. Yet she could not tear herself away. She
+flew six inches away, then instantly came back and got into the nest,
+trying it this way and that. Then she ran up a stem, and in a moment
+down again, trying that nest in a new way, from a fresh point of view.
+This performance went on a long time, and we found it as impossible to
+leave as she did; we were as completely charmed with her ingenuous and
+bewitching manners as she was with her new home.</p>
+
+<p>Well indeed was it that we stayed that morning and enriched ourselves
+with the beautiful picture of bird ways, for like many another fair
+promise of the summer it came to naught.</p>
+
+<p>We had not startled her, she had not observed us at all, nor been in the
+least degree<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> hindered in her work by our silent presence, twenty feet
+away and half hidden by her leafy screen. But the next day she was not
+there. After we had waited half an hour, my friend could no longer
+resist a siren voice that had lured us for days (and was never traced
+home, by the way). I offered to wait for the little blue while she
+sought her charmer.</p>
+
+<p>We were near the edge of the woods, and she was obliged to pass through
+part of a pasture where sheep were kept. Her one terror about her big
+dog was that he should take to making himself disagreeable among sheep,
+when she knew his days would be numbered, so she told him to stay with
+me. He had risen when she started, and he looked a little dubious, but
+sat down again, and she went away.</p>
+
+<p>He watched her so long as she could be seen and then turned to me for
+comfort. He came close and laid his big head on my lap to be petted. I
+patted his head and praised him a while, and then wished to be relieved.
+But flattery was sweet to his ears, and the touch of a hand to his
+brow,&mdash;he declined to be put away; on the contrary he demanded constant
+repetition of the agreeable sensations. If I stopped, he laid his heavy
+head across my arm, in a way most uncomfortable to one not accustomed to
+dogs. These methods not availing, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> sat up close beside me, when he
+came nearly to my shoulder and leaned heavily against me, his head
+resting against my arm in a most sentimental attitude.</p>
+
+<p>At last finding that I would not be coaxed or forced into devoting
+myself wholly to his entertainment, he rose with dignity, and walked off
+in the direction his mistress had gone, paying no more attention to my
+commands or my coaxings than if I did not exist. If I would not do what
+he wished, and pay the price of his society, he would not do what I
+asked. I was, therefore, left alone.</p>
+
+<p>I was perfectly quiet. My dress was a dull woods tint, carefully
+selected to be inconspicuous, and I was motionless. No little dame
+appeared, but I soon became aware of the pleasing sound of the blue
+himself. It drew nearer, and suddenly ceased. Cautiously, without
+moving, I looked up. My eyes fell upon the little beauty peering down
+upon me. I scarcely breathed while he came nearer, at last directly over
+my head, silent, and plainly studying me. I shall always think his
+conclusion was unfavorable, that he decided I was dangerous; and I, who
+never lay a finger on an egg or a nest in use, had to suffer for the
+depredations of the race to which I belong. The pretty nest so doted
+upon by its little builder was never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>occupied, and the winsome song of
+the warbler came from another part of the wood.</p>
+
+<p>We found him, indeed, so often near this particular place, a worse
+tangle, if possible, than the other, that we suspected they had set up
+their household gods here. Many times did my friend and her dog work
+their way through it, while I waited outside, and considered the
+admirable tactics of the wary warbler. The search was without result.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks passed, but though other birds interested us, and filled our days
+with pleasure, my comrade never ceased longing to find the elusive nest
+of that blue warbler, and our revenge came at last. Nests may be
+deserted, little brown spouses may be hidden under green leaves,
+homesteads may be so cunningly placed that one cannot find them, but
+baby birds cannot be concealed. They will speak for themselves; they
+will get out of the nest before they can fly; they will scramble about,
+careless of being seen; and such is the devotion of parents that they
+must and will follow all these vagaries, and thus give their precious
+secret to whoever has eyes to see.</p>
+
+<p>One day I came alone into the woods, and as I reached a certain place,
+sauntering along in perfect silence, I evidently surprised somebody, for
+I was saluted by low "smacks" and I caught glimpses of two birds who
+dived into the jewel-weed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> and disappeared. A moment later I saw the
+blue take flight a little farther off, and soon his song burst out, calm
+and sweet as though he had never been surprised in his life.</p>
+
+<p>I walked slowly on up the road, for this was one of the most enchanting
+spots in the woods, to birds as well as to bird-lovers. Here the cuckoo
+hid her brood till they could fly. In this retired corner the tawny
+thrush built her nest, and the hermit filled its aisles with music,
+while on the trespass notices hung here, the yellow-bellied woodpecker
+drummed and signaled. It was filled with interest and with pleasant
+memories, and I lingered here for some time.</p>
+
+<p>Then as the road led me still farther away, I turned back. Coming
+quietly, again I surprised the blue family and was greeted in the same
+manner as before. They had slipped back in silence during my absence,
+and the young blues were, doubtless, at that moment running about under
+the weeds.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we found our warbler, the head of a family, hard at work as any
+sparrow, feeding a beloved, but somewhat scraggy looking, youngster, the
+feeble likeness of himself. There, too, we found the little brown mamma,
+the same, as we suppose, whose nest-building we had watched with so much
+interest. She also had a youngster under her charge. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> how was this!
+a brown baby clad like herself! Could it be that the sons and daughters
+of this warbler family outrage all precedent by wearing their grown-up
+dress in the cradle? We consulted the authorities and found our
+conclusion was correct.</p>
+
+<p>Henceforth we watched with greater interest than before. Every day that
+we came into the woods we saw the little party of four, always near
+together, scrambling about under the saplings or among the jewel-weed,
+or running over the tangled branches of a fallen tree, the two younger
+calling in sharp little voices for food, and the elders bustling about
+on low trees to find it.</p>
+
+<p>We soon noticed that there was favoritism in the family. Papa fed only
+the little man, while mamma fed the little maid, though she too
+sometimes stuffed a morsel into the mouth of her son. Let us hope that
+by this arrangement both babies are equally fed, and not, as is often
+the case, the most greedy secures the greatest amount.</p>
+
+<p>We had now reached the last of July, and the woods were full of new
+voices, not alone the peeps or chirps of birdlings impatient for food.
+There were baffling rustles of leaves in the tree-tops, rebounds of
+twigs as some small form left them, flits of strange-colored
+wings,&mdash;migration<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> had begun. Now, if the bird-student wishes not to go
+mad with problems she cannot solve, she will be wise to fold her
+camp-stool and return to the haunts of the squawking English sparrow and
+the tireless canary, the loud-voiced parrot, and the sleep-destroying
+mockingbird. I did.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A RAINY-DAY TRAMP.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Before</span> I opened my eyes in the morning I knew something had happened,
+for I missed the usual charm of dawn. A robin, to be sure, made an
+effort to lead, as was his custom, and sang out bravely once or twice; a
+song sparrow, too, flitted into the evergreen beside my window, and
+uttered his sweet and cheery little greeting to whom it might concern.
+But those were the only ones out of the fourteen voices we were
+accustomed to hear in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>When I came out on the veranda not a note was to be heard and not a bird
+to be seen excepting a woodpecker, who bounded gayly up the trunk of a
+maple, as if sunshine were not essential to happiness, and a
+chipping-sparrow, who went about through the dripping grass with perfect
+indifference to weather, squabbling with his fellow-chippies, and
+picking up his breakfast as usual.</p>
+
+<p>I seated myself in the big rocker, and turned toward the woods, a few
+rods away. The rain, which had fallen heavily for hours, light and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> fine
+now, drew a shimmering veil before the trees,&mdash;a veil like a Japanese
+bead-hanging, which hides nothing, only the rain veil was more
+diaphanous than anything fashioned by human hands. It did not conceal,
+but enhanced the charm of everything behind it, lending a glamour that
+turned the woods into enchanted land.</p>
+
+<p>Before the house how the prospect was changed! The hills and Adirondack
+woods in the distance were cut sharply off, and our little world stood
+alone, closed in by heavy walls of mist.</p>
+
+<p>My glass transported me to the edge of the side lawn, where I looked far
+under the trees, and rejoiced in the joy of the woods in rain. The trees
+were still, as if in ecstasy "too deep for smiling;" the ferns gently
+waved and nodded. Every tiny leaf that had thrust its head up through
+the mould, ambitious to be an ash or a maple or a fern, straightened
+itself with fullness of fresh life. The woods were never so fascinating,
+nor showed so plainly</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"The immortal gladness of inanimate things."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>A summer shower the birds, and we, have reason to expect, and even to
+enjoy, but a downpour of several hours, a storm that lays the deep grass
+flat, beats down branches, and turns every hollow into a lake, was more
+than they had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>provided for, I fear. My heart went out to the dozens of
+bobolink and song-sparrow babies buried under the matted grass, the
+little tawny thrushes wandering around cold and comfortless on the
+soaked ground in the woods, the warbler infants,&mdash;redstart and
+chestnut-sided&mdash;that I knew were sitting humped up and miserable in some
+watery place under the berry bushes, the young tanager only just out of
+the nest, and the two cuckoo babies, thrust out of their home at the
+untimely age of seven days, to shiver around on their weak blue legs.</p>
+
+<p>My only comfort was in thinking of woodpecker little folk, the
+yellow-bellied family whose loud and insistent baby cries we had
+listened to for days, the downy and hairy, and the golden-wing. They
+were all warm and snug, if they could only be persuaded to stay at home.
+But from what I have seen of young birds, when their hour strikes they
+go, be it fair or foul. To take the bitter with the sweet is their fate,
+and no rain, however driving, no wind, however rough, can detain them an
+hour when they feel the call of the inner voice which bids them go. I
+have seen many birdlings start out in weather that from our point of
+view should make the feathered folk, old or young, hug the nest or any
+shelter they can find.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon the rain had ceased, and we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> went out. How beautiful we
+found the woods! More than ever I despair of</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Putting my woods in song."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Every fresh condition of light brings out new features. They are not the
+same in the morning and the afternoon; sunshine makes them very
+different from a gray sky; and heavy rain, which hangs still in drops
+from every leaf and twig, changes them still more.</p>
+
+<p>This time the tree-trunks were the most noticeable feature. Thoreau
+speaks of rain waking the lichens into life, and we saw this as never
+before. Not only does it bring out the colors and give a brightness and
+richness they show at no other time, but it raises the leaves&mdash;if one
+may so call them&mdash;makes them stand out fresh. The beeches were marvelous
+with many shades of green, and of pink, from a delicate blush over the
+whole tree, to bright vermilion in small patches. The birches, "most shy
+and ladylike of trees," were intensely yellow; some lovely with dabs of
+green, while others looked like rugged old heroes of many battles, with
+great patches of black, and ragged ends of loosened bark fringing them
+like an Indian's war dress, up to the branches. Every hollow under the
+trees had become a clear pond to reflect these beauties, and lively
+little brooks rippled across the path,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> adding to the woods the only
+thing they lacked,&mdash;running water.</p>
+
+<p>Instinctively our feet turned up the path to the oven-bird's nest, so
+narrow that we brushed a shower from every bush. There he was, singing
+at that moment. "Teacher! teacher! teacher!" he called, with head thrown
+up and wings drooped. And then while we looked he left his perch, and
+passed up between the branches out of our sight, his sweet ecstatic
+love-song floating down to delight our souls.</p>
+
+<p>Surely, we thought, all must be well in the cabin among the dead leaves,
+or he could not sing so. Yet life had not been all rose-colored to the
+little dame whom we had surprised several days before, bringing great
+pieces of what appeared to be lace, to line the nest she had made so
+wonderfully. We had watched her, breathless, for a long time, while she
+went back and forth carrying in old leaves, softened, bleached, and
+turned to lace by long exposure, arranged each one carefully and moulded
+it to place by pressing her breast against it, and turning round and
+round in the nest. Curious enough she looked as she alighted at some
+distance, and walked&mdash;not hopped&mdash;to her little "oven," holding the
+almost skeletonized leaf before her like an apron, so busy that she did
+not observe that she had visitors.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>Then came a day when, on reaching our usual place, we found that an
+accident had happened. The dainty roof was crushed in, and the poor
+little egg, for which such loving preparations had been made, lay
+pathetically on the ground outside the door. My comrade crept carefully
+up, raised the tiny roof to place, and with deft fingers put a twig
+under as a prop to hold it, then gently laid the pretty egg in the
+lace-lined nest.</p>
+
+<p>The next day we hurried out to see if the bird had resented our clumsy
+human help. But no; like the wise little creature she was, she had
+accepted the goods the gods had provided, and laid a second pearl beside
+the first. On our next visit, therefore&mdash;especially when we heard the
+gleeful song of her (supposed) mate&mdash;we came up with confidence to see
+our little oven-bird homestead. But, alas! somebody not so loving as we
+had been there; the two pretty eggs were gone, not a sign of them to be
+seen, and the nest was deserted. Yet we could not give up a hope that
+she would return, and day after day our steps turned of themselves to
+the oven-bird's nook. This rainy day, as a dozen times before, we found
+the little house still empty, and as before we turned sadly away, when
+suddenly a new sound broke the stillness. "Wuk! wuk! wuk! wa-a-a-ah!
+wa-a-a-ah!" it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> cried. It was the exact tone of a young baby, a naive
+and innocent cry. What could it be? Was some tramp mother hidden behind
+the bushes? Was it a new bird with this unbird-like cry? I was startled.
+But my friend was smiling at my dismay. She pointed to the crotch of a
+tree, and there a saucy gray squirrel lay sprawled out flat, uttering
+his sentiments in this abominable parody on the human baby cry. I
+believe the first squirrel learned it from some deserted infant, and
+handed it down as a choice joke upon us all. At any rate this performer
+was not suffering as his tones would indicate; for seeing that he had an
+audience more interested than he desired, he pulled himself together,
+whisked his bushy tail in our faces, and disappeared behind the trunk,
+from whence, in one instant, his head was thrust on one side and his
+tail on the other. And so he remained as long as we were in sight.</p>
+
+<p>This absurd episode changed our mood, and soon we tramped gayly back
+over the soft leaf-covered paths, fording the newly formed brooks,
+shaking showers upon ourselves from the saplings, and arriving at last,
+dripping but happy, on the veranda, where, after donning drier costumes,
+we spent the rest of the day watching the birds that came to the trees
+on the lawn.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE VAGARIES OF A WARBLER.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> bird lover who carries a glass but never a gun, who observes but
+never shoots, sees many queer things not set down in the books; freaks
+and notions and curious fancies on the part of the feathered folk, which
+reveal an individuality of character as marked in a three-inch warbler
+as in a six-foot man. Some of the idiosyncrasies of our "little
+brothers" may be understood and explained from the human standpoint,
+others are as baffling as "the lady, or the tiger?"</p>
+
+<p>One lovely and lazy day last July&mdash;the fourth it was&mdash;a perfect day with
+not a cannon nor even a cracker to disturb its peace, my comrade and I
+turned our steps toward the woods, as we had for the thirty-and-three
+mornings preceding that one.</p>
+
+<p>This morning, however, was distinguished by the fact that we had a
+special object. In general, our passage through the woods was an
+open-eyed (and open-minded) loitering walk, alternated with periods of
+rest on our camp-stools,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> wherever we found anything of interest to
+detain us.</p>
+
+<p>On this Fourth of July we were in search of a warbler,&mdash;one of the most
+tantalizing, maddening pursuits a sensible human being can engage in.
+Fancy the difficulty of dragging one's self, not to mention the flying
+gown, camp-stool, opera-glass, note-book and other impedimenta through
+brush and brier, over logs, under fallen trees, in the swamp and through
+the tangle, to follow the eccentric movements of a scrap of a bird the
+size of one's finger, who proceeds by wings and not by feet, who goes
+over and not through all this growth.</p>
+
+<p>The corner to which we had traced our "black-throated blue," and where
+we suspected he had a nest, presented a little worse than the usual
+snarl of saplings and fallen branches and other hindrances, and the
+morning was warm. My heart failed me; and as my leader turned from the
+path I deserted. "You go in, if you like," I said; "I'll wait for you
+here."</p>
+
+<p>I seated myself, and she went on. For a few minutes I heard the cracking
+of twigs, the rustle of her movements against the bushes, the heavy
+tread of her big dog, and then all was silent.</p>
+
+<p>It was&mdash;did I say it was a fair morning?&mdash;not a breath of air was
+stirring. My seat was in a rather open spot at the foot of a big
+butternut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> tree; and I could look far up where its branches spread out
+wide and held their graceful leafy stars against the blue.</p>
+
+<p>In the woods I am never lonely; but I was not this morning alone. Near
+by a vireo kept up his tireless song; a gray squirrel peeped curiously
+at me from behind a trunk, his head showing on one side and his tail on
+the other; an oven-bird stole up behind to see what manner of creature
+this was, and far off I could hear the tanager singing.</p>
+
+<p>I did not notice the time; but after a while I became conscious of a low
+whistle which seemed to mingle with my reveries, and might have been
+going on for some minutes. Suddenly it struck me that it was the call of
+my fellow-student, and I started up the road wondering lazily if she had
+found the nest, and, to tell the truth, not caring much whether she had
+or not. For, to tell the whole truth, I had long ago steeled my heart
+against the fascinations of those bewitching little sprites who never
+stay two seconds in one spot, and sternly resolved never, <i>never</i> to get
+interested in a warbler.</p>
+
+<p>My companion, however, was not so philosophical or so cool. She never
+could withstand the flit of a warbler wing; she would follow for half a
+day the absurd but enchanting little trill; and she regularly went mad
+(so to speak) at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> every migration, over the hundred or two, more or
+less, varieties that made this wood a resting-place on their way. Now, I
+could resist the birds by never looking at them, but I could not resist
+my friend's enthusiasm; so when she started on a warbler trail, I
+generally followed, as a matter of course. And I admit that the blue, to
+which we shortened his name, was a beauty and a charming singer.</p>
+
+<p>I passed quietly up the road toward the continued low calls, and soon
+saw the student, not far from the path, in a clearer spot than usual,
+sitting against a maple sapling, with her four-footed protector at her
+feet. When I came in sight she beckoned eagerly but silently, and I knew
+she had found something; probably the nest, I thought. As quietly as
+might be under the circumstances (namely, a passage through dead leaves,
+brittle twigs, unexpected hollows, etc.), I crept to her side, planted
+my camp-stool near hers, and sat down, in obedience to her imperious
+gesture.</p>
+
+<p>"Now look," she whispered, pointing to a nest in plain sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Why that's the redstart nest we saw yesterday from the road," I
+answered in the same tone, somewhat disappointed, it must be said, for
+redstart nests were on about every third sapling in the woods.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p><p>"Yes; but see what's going on," she added, excitedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I see," I replied; "there is a young bird on the edge of the nest and
+its mother is feeding it;" and I was about to lower my glass and ask
+what there was surprising about that, when she went on:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Keep looking! There! Who's that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why that's&mdash;why&mdash;that's a chestnut-sided warbler! and&mdash;what?&mdash;he feeds
+the same baby!" I gasped, interested now as much as she.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" she exclaimed, triumphantly, "I wanted you to see that with
+your own eyes, since you scorn to look at the warblers. He has been
+doing that ever since I left you. I couldn't bear to let him out of my
+sight!"</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the warbler appeared again, and the wise redstart baby,
+who at least knew enough to take a good thing when it offered, opened
+his ever-ready mouth for the bit of a worm he brought.</p>
+
+<p>But lo! Madam, who had flown the moment before, returned in hot haste,
+and flung herself upon that small philanthropist as if he had brought
+poison; he vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Here was indeed a queer complication! It was a redstart nest without
+doubt, but who owned the baby? If he were a redstart, why<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> did Mamma
+refuse help in her hard work, and why did the chestnut-sided insist on
+helping? If he were a chestnut-sided infant, how did he come in a
+redstart nest, and what had the redstart to do with him?</p>
+
+<p>These were the problems with which we had to grapple, and we settled
+ourselves to the work. We placed our seats against neighboring saplings,
+for backs, and we first critically examined that nest. It was surely a
+redstart's, though at an unusual height, perhaps twenty-five feet, as we
+had observed the day before when we had both noted in our books that we
+saw the male feeding the young. Even had the nest not been so plainly a
+redstart's, the air of that mother was unmistakable. She owned that nest
+and that baby, there could not be a doubt, and the dapper little
+personage with chestnut sides was an interloper.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly two hours we watched every movement of the small actors in this
+strange drama, and in seeking food they often came within six feet of us
+on our own level, so that we could not mistake their identity.</p>
+
+<p>The poor little mamma was in deep distress. Although her mate was
+absent, she resented her neighbor's efforts to help in her work, and
+dashed at him furiously every time she saw him come. Yet she could not
+stay on guard, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> upon her alone devolved the duty of feeding that
+nestling! So she rushed frantically hither and thither in mad redstart
+fashion, brought her morsel and administered it, and then darted angrily
+after the enemy, who appeared as often as she did, every time with a
+tidbit for that pampered youngster.</p>
+
+<p>This double duty seemed almost too much for the redstart. Her feathers
+were ruffled, her tail opened and shut nervously, and at every interval
+that she could spare from her breathless exertions she uttered in low
+tones the redstart song, as though calling on that missing lord of hers.</p>
+
+<p>And where was that much needed personage? Had he been killed in these
+carefully protected and fenced woods, where no guns or collectors were
+allowed, and trespass notices were as plentiful as blackberries? Not by
+shooting we were sure; we should have heard a gun at the house. Had,
+then, an owl paid a twilight visit, and could a redstart be surprised?
+Or could, perchance, a squirrel have stolen upon him unaware? We shall
+never know. There's no morning paper to chronicle the tragedies in the
+bird world; and it would be too pitiful reading if there were.</p>
+
+<p>The most curious thing about the whole performance was the behavior of
+the chestnut-sided.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> His manner was as unruffled as Madam's was excited.
+The most just and honorable cause in the world could not give more
+absolute self-possession, more dignified persistence, than was shown by
+this wonderful atom of a bird. He acknowledged her right to reprove him,
+for he vanished before her outraged motherhood every time; but the
+moment the chase ended he fell to collecting food, and by the time his
+assailant had given her bantling a morsel, he was ready with another.</p>
+
+<p>What could be his motive? Was he a charity-mad personage, such as we
+sometimes see among bigger folk, determined to benefit his kind, whether
+they would or no? Had he, perchance, been bereaved of his own
+younglings, and felt moved to bestow his parental care upon somebody?
+Did he wish to experiment with some theory of his own on another's baby?
+Was it his aim to coax that young redstart to desert his family and
+follow after the traditions of the chestnut-sided?</p>
+
+<p>Alas! how easy to ask; how hard to answer!</p>
+
+<p>By this time I had become as absorbed in the drama as my companion. We
+forgot, or postponed, the blue, and gave the day to study of this case
+of domestic infelicity. Five long hours we sat there (morning and
+afternoon) before the stage on which the interesting but agitating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> play
+went on; and after tea, just before dark, we came out again. All this
+time the war between the two still raged, with no abatement of spirit.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast was not loitered over on the following morning, and we hurried
+out to our post. The situation was changed a little. The youngster had
+made up his mind to go out into the world. He had moved as far as the
+branch, a few inches from the nest, and was still fed on both sides by
+his zealous providers. Mamma, however, though every time repelling her
+unwelcome assistant, was not so nervous. Perhaps she realized that a few
+hours more would end the trouble. She fed, she encouraged, and pretty
+soon, while we looked, the infant flew to the nearest tree.</p>
+
+<p>Now the chestnut-sided began to have difficulty in following up his
+self-imposed charge. He took to coming close upon the mother's heels to
+see where she went. But this course was attended with the difficulty
+that the instant she had fed she was ready to turn upon him, which she
+never failed to do.</p>
+
+<p>After several short flights about the tree, the young bird, grown
+bolder, perhaps by over-feeding, for surely never nestling was stuffed
+as that one was, attempted a more ambitious flight, failed, and came
+fluttering to the ground, much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> to the dismay of his mamma, who followed
+him closely all the way.</p>
+
+<p>This was our opportunity, the moment we had waited for; we must see that
+disputed baby!</p>
+
+<p>My comrade dropped everything and ran to the spot. A moment's scrambling
+about on the ground, a few careful "grabs" among the dead leaves, and
+she held the exhausted little fellow in her hand. He was not frightened;
+but his mother was greatly disturbed at first. We were too interested in
+this case to heed her, and indeed after a moment's demonstration she
+flew away and left him in our hands.</p>
+
+<p>We examined him minutely, and I noted his markings on the spot. There
+was no doubt about his being a redstart baby, as I had been convinced
+from the first. When we had settled this, the little one was placed on a
+branch, where he remained quite calmly, and we left him to his two
+attendants.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning we found the mother still hard at work in the same part
+of the woods (we knew her by some feathers she had lost from her
+breast), but the gallant little warbler was nowhere to be seen.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>A CLEVER CUCKOO.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"Hark, the cuckoo, weatherwise,</span><br />
+Still hiding, farther onward woos you."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> mysterious bird, around whose name cluster some strange facts as
+well as absurd fancies; shy and intolerant of the human race, yet bold
+in protecting his treasures; devoted and tender in his family relations,
+yet often known in the neighborhood where he passes his days as a mere
+"wandering voice,"&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"No bird, but an invisible thing,<br />
+A voice, a mystery,"&mdash;<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>this bird, the cuckoo, was a stranger to me till one happy day last
+June, when I came upon him where he could not escape, beside his own
+nest.</p>
+
+<p>In returning from our daily visit to the woods that morning, my
+fellow-student turned down a narrow footway connecting the woods with
+the home-fields, and I followed. She had passed through half its length,
+her dog close behind her, when our eyes, ever searching the trees and
+bushes, fell almost at the same instant upon a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> nest, with the sitting
+bird at home. It was so near me that I could have touched it, being not
+more than two feet from the ground, and hardly farther from the path.</p>
+
+<p>Fearing to startle the little mother, whose frightened eyes were fixed
+upon us, we announced our mutual discovery by a single movement of the
+hand, and walked quietly past without pausing. Not until we reached the
+open fields at the end did my comrade whisper, "a cuckoo," and our
+hearts, if not our lips, sang with Wordsworth, "Thrice welcome, darling
+of the spring," for the nest of this shy bird we hardly dared hope to
+see.</p>
+
+<p>After the morning of our happy discovery the cuckoo path became part of
+our regular route home from the woods. Our first care was to dispel the
+fears of the bird, and accustom her to seeing us, so for several days we
+passed her without pausing, though we looked at her and spoke to her in
+low tones as we went by.</p>
+
+<p>Three times she flew at sight of us, but on the fourth morning she
+remained, though with tail straight up and ready for instant flight. But
+finding that we did not disturb her, she calmed down, and became so
+fearless that she did not move nor appear agitated when at last we did
+stop before her door, spoke to her, and identified her as the
+black-billed cuckoo.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p><p>On the eighth day of our visits it happened that I went to the woods
+alone. I found the bird at home, as usual, and armed with an
+opera-glass, I placed myself at some distance to watch her. Half an hour
+passed before she stirred a feather, but I was not lonely. A
+mourning-warbler came about, eating and singing alternately, after the
+manner of his kind, and the pretty trill of the black-throated green
+warbler came out of the woods. Then a crow mamma created a diversion by
+helping herself to an egg for her baby's breakfast, when a robin and a
+vireo&mdash;curious pair!&mdash;took after her with loud cries of indignation and
+reproach.</p>
+
+<p>When this excitement was over, the trio had disappeared in the woods,
+and silence had fallen upon us again, I heard the cuckoo call at a
+little distance, and in a moment the bird himself alighted on a twig
+three feet above the nest. He was a beauty, but he appeared greatly
+excited. He threw up his tail till it pointed to the sky over his head,
+then let it slowly drop to the horizontal position. This he did three
+times, while he looked down upon his household, so absorbed that he did
+not see me at all.</p>
+
+<p>Then the patient sitter vacated her post, and he flew down to the nest.
+The top was hidden by leaves, so that I cannot positively affirm that he
+sat on the eggs, but it is certain that he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>remained perfectly silent
+and motionless there for forty-five minutes. Then I caught sight of
+Madam returning. She came in from the woods, behind and at the level of
+the nest; there was a moment's flutter of wings, and I saw that her mate
+was gone, and she in her usual place.</p>
+
+<p>The next day there was a change in the programme. It happened that I
+arrived when the mother was away, and the head of the household in
+charge. No sooner did I appear on the path than he flew off the nest
+with great hustle, thus betraying himself at once; but he did not desert
+his post of protector. He perched on a branch somewhat higher than my
+head, and five or six feet away, and began calling, a low "coo-oo." With
+every cry he opened his mouth very wide, as though to shriek at the top
+of his voice, and the low cry that came out was so ludicrously
+inadequate to his apparent effort that it was very droll. In this
+performance he made fine display of the inside of his mouth and throat,
+which looked, from where I stood, like black satin.</p>
+
+<p>The calls he made while I watched him sounded so far off that if I had
+not been within six feet of him, and seen him make them, I should never
+have suspected him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">"A cry</span><br />
+Which made me look a thousand ways,<br />
+In bush and tree and sky."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p><p>Finding that his voice did not drive me away, the bird resorted to
+another method; he tried intimidation. First he threw himself into a
+most curious attitude, humping his shoulders and opening his tail like a
+fan, then spreading his wings and resting the upper end of them on his
+tail, which made at the back a sort of scoop effect. Every time he
+uttered the cry he lifted wings and tail together, and let them fall
+slowly back to their natural position. It was the queerest bird
+performance I ever saw.</p>
+
+<p>During all this excitement there sounded from a little distance a low
+single "coo," which, I suppose, was the voice of his mate. Not wishing
+to make a serious disturbance in the family, and seeing that he was not
+to be conciliated, I walked slowly on, looking in the nest as I passed.
+It contained one egg that looked like a robin's, and beside it a small
+bundle of what resembled black flesh stuck full of white pins. This,
+then, was the cuckoo baby; surely an odd one!</p>
+
+<p>On the third day after this experience we were fortunate enough again to
+find the nest uncovered. A second youngster lay beside the first, and
+the two entirely filled the nest. They were perhaps two and a half
+inches long, and resembled, as said above, mere lumps of flesh. After
+looking at the young family, we seated ourselves a little way off to
+wait for some one to come home.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>The place the cuckoo had chosen to nest was one of the most attractive
+spots on the grounds, an opening in the woods in which, after the loss
+of the trees, had grown up a thicket of wild berries. The bushes were
+nearly as high as one's head, and so luxuriant that they made an
+impenetrable tangle, through which paths were cut in all directions, and
+kept open by much work each year.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the opening was a clump of larger saplings, around the
+foot of two or three very tall old basswood-trees, part of the original
+forest. It was the paradise of small fruits. Early in the season
+elderberries ripened, and offered food to whoever would come. Before
+they were gone the bushes were red with the raspberry, and blackberries
+were ready to follow; choke-cherries completed the list, and lasted till
+into the fall. The insect enemies of fruit were there in armies.</p>
+
+<p>Its constant supply of food, its shelter from the winds on every side,
+and its admirable hiding-places for nests, made this warm, sunny corner
+the chosen home of many birds. Warblers were there from early spring,
+heard, though not always seen. Veeries nested on its borders,
+woodpeckers haunted the dead trees at the edge, and all the birds of the
+neighborhood paid visits to it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>We had not waited long when the head of the cuckoo family appeared. He
+saw us instantly, and, I regret to say, was no more reconciled to our
+presence than he had been on the previous occasion; but he showed his
+displeasure in a different way. He rushed about in the trees, crying,
+"cuck-a-ruck, cuck-a-ruck," running out even to the tip of slender
+branches that seemed too slight to bear his weight. When his feelings
+entirely overcame him he flew away, and though we remained fifteen
+minutes, no one came to the nest.</p>
+
+<p>The day after this display of unkindly feeling toward us we passed down
+the cuckoo path, saw Madam on the nest, and at once determined to wait
+and see what new demonstration her mate would invent to express his
+emotions. My comrade threw herself down full length on the dead leaves
+beside the path, where she could bask in the sunlight, while I sat in
+the shade close by.</p>
+
+<p>After some time we saw the cuckoo stealing in by a roundabout back way
+through the low growth in the edge of the wood. He was coming with
+supplies, for a worm dangled from his beak. He had nearly reached the
+nest&mdash;in fact was not two feet away&mdash;when his eyes fell upon us. He
+stopped as if paralyzed. We remained motionless, almost breathless, but
+he did not take his eyes off us, nor attempt to relieve<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> himself of that
+worm. Still we did not move; arms began to ache, feet tingled with
+"going to sleep," every joint stiffened, and I began to be afraid I
+should find myself turned to stone. Still that bird never moved an
+eyelid, so far as we could see.</p>
+
+<p>It was fully twenty-five minutes that we three stared at each other, all
+struck dumb. But Nature asserted herself in us before it did in him. The
+sun was hot, and the mosquitoes far from dumb. We yielded as gracefully
+as we could under the circumstances, and left him there as motionless as
+a "mounted specimen" in a glass case.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning we started out rather earlier than usual, half
+expecting to find Master Cuckoo grown to that perch. It appeared,
+however, that he had torn himself away, for he was not to be seen. The
+little mother, who was on the nest, had readily learned that we intended
+no harm, but her peppery little spouse learned nothing; he was just as
+unreconciled to us the last day as the first.</p>
+
+<p>This time he tried to keep out of sight. First we heard his call far
+off, then a low "cuck-a-ruck" quite near, to which she replied with a
+gentle "coo-oo" hardly above her breath.</p>
+
+<p>It was soothing, but it did not altogether soothe. He came up from
+behind us with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>another dangling worm in his mouth, slipped silently
+through the bushes to the nest, and in a moment departed by the back way
+without a word. Then we went nearer, looked once more upon the shy but
+brave little mother, and went our way.</p>
+
+<p>We did not suspect it, but that was our last sight of the cuckoo family
+at home; the next day the place was empty and deserted.</p>
+
+<p>I was smitten with remorse. Were we the cause of the calamity? Had the
+poor birds carried off the babies? Or had, perchance, another nest
+tragedy occurred? We looked carefully; there were no signs of a
+struggle. They had apparently flown in peace. Yet six days before one
+was still in the egg and the other newly hatched. Only two days ago the
+pair looked like tiny black cushions covered with white pins, and not a
+quarter the size of the parents. Moreover, they had been sat upon every
+day.</p>
+
+<p>In this painful uncertainty we were obliged to leave the matter; but
+although we saw no more of them, they did not pass out of our minds.
+Every day we looked in the woods and listened for cuckoo voices, but
+every day we were disappointed, until about eleven days later.</p>
+
+<p>We were walking slowly down what we called the veery road in the woods,
+far over the other side from the cuckoo's nest, when we heard a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> very
+low but strange baby cry in some thick bushes. It was a constant
+repetition of one note, a gentle "tut, tut, tut."</p>
+
+<p>We were naturally eager to see the youngster, and we carefully
+approached the spot. As we came near, a cuckoo flew up, scrambled
+through a tree, and disappeared. Could it be a cuckoo baby we had heard?
+In an instant the fugitive seemed to think better of her intention to
+fly. Perhaps she was conscience-smitten for deserting the little one,
+for she returned in plain sight, though at some distance. She began at
+once calling and posturing, clearly for our benefit. We, of course,
+understood her tactics. She wished to draw us away from the neighborhood
+of her infant, and as it was impossible to penetrate the thicket, and we
+did not enjoy torturing an anxious mother, we decided to yield to her
+wishes, and see what she would do.</p>
+
+<p>She cried every moment, "tut, tut, tut," in a low tone, and ten or
+twelve times repeated. At the same time she lifted her long tail, and
+slowly let it fall, with a beautiful and graceful motion. She crouched
+on the branch, and put her head down to it, then suddenly rose and threw
+up her head and tail, making herself as conspicuous and as remarkable as
+she could. We moved a little toward her. That encouraged her to go on;
+and easily, in a sort of careless,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> inconsequent way, she hopped to the
+next branch farther. So we let ourselves be drawn away, she keeping up
+all the time the low call, while the infant, which we are sure was
+there, had become utterly silent.</p>
+
+<p>She was a beautiful creature, a picture of grace; and when she had
+beguiled us some distance away from where we heard the baby-cry, she
+suddenly slipped behind a branch and was gone; and we felt repaid for
+missing the young one by the beautiful exhibition she had made of
+herself. We never saw her again.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Last</span> summer I made the acquaintance of an outlaw; an unfortunate
+fellow-creature under the ban of condemnation, burdened with an
+opprobrious name, and by general consent given over to the tender
+mercies of any vagabond who chooses to torture him or take his life. One
+would naturally sympathize with the "under dog," but when, instead of
+one of his peers as opponent, a poor little fellow, eight inches long,
+has arrayed against him the whole human race, with all its devices for
+catching and killing, his chances for life and the pursuit of happiness
+are so small that any lover of justice must be roused to his defense, if
+defense be possible.</p>
+
+<p>The individual of whom I speak is, properly, the yellow-bellied
+woodpecker, though he is more commonly known as the sapsucker, in some
+places the squealing sapsucker; and I hailed with joy his presence in a
+certain protected bit of woods, a little paradise for birds and bird
+lovers, where, if anywhere, he could be studied. There is some propriety
+in applying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> to him the strange epithet "squealing," I must allow, for
+the bird has a peculiar voice, nasal enough for the conventional Brother
+Jonathan; but "sapsucker" is, in the opinion of many who have studied
+his ways, undeserved. Dr. Merriam, even while admitting that the birds
+do taste the sap, says positively, "It is my firm belief that their
+chief object in making these holes is to secure the insects which gather
+about them."</p>
+
+<p>My introduction to the subject of my study took place just after sundown
+on a beautiful June evening. We were riding up from the railway station,
+three miles away. The horses had climbed to the top of the last hill,
+and trotted gayly through a belt of fragrant woods which reached like an
+arm around from the forest behind, as if lovingly inclosing the
+attractive scene,&mdash;a pleasant, old-fashioned homestead, with ample lawn
+sloping down toward the valley we had left, and looking away over low
+hills to the apparently unbroken forests of the Adirondacks.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment there arose a loud, strange cry, of distress it seemed,
+and I turned hastily to see a black and white bird, with bright red
+crown and throat, bounding straight up the trunk of an elm-tree,
+throwing back his head at every jerk with a comical suggestion of
+Jack's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> "Hitchety! hatchety! up I go!" as he joyously mounted his
+beanstalk, in the old nursery story. There was surely nothing amiss with
+this little fellow, and, knowing almost nothing of the</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"Greys, whites, and reds,</span><br />
+Of pranked woodpeckers that ne'er gossip out,<br />
+But always tap at doors and gad about,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>I eagerly demanded his name, and was delighted to hear in answer, "The
+sapsucker." I was delighted because I hoped to see for myself whether
+the bird merited the offensive name bestowed upon him, or was the victim
+of hasty generalization from careless observation or insufficient data,
+like others of his race. The close investigations of scientific men have
+reversed many popular decisions. They have proved the crow to be the
+farmer's friend, most of the hawks and owls to be laborers in his
+interest, the kingbird to fare almost entirely upon destructive insects
+rather than bees, and other birds to be more sinned against than
+sinning.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing noted was the sapsucker's peculiar food-seeking habit.
+One bird made the lawn a daily haunt, and we, living chiefly on the
+veranda, saw him before us at all hours, from dawn to dusk, and thus had
+the best possible chance to catch him in mischief, if to mischief he
+inclined. He generally made his appearance flying in bounding, wave-like
+fashion,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> uttering his loud mournful cry, which, though an apparent
+wail, was evidently not inspired by sadness. Alighting near the foot of
+a tree-trunk, with many repetitions of his complaining note, he gayly
+bobbed his way up the bark highway as if it were a ladder. When he
+reached the branches, he flew to another tree. This bird's custom of
+delivering his striking call as he approached and mounted a tree not far
+from his "food tree" may be a newly acquired habit; for Dr. Merriam, who
+observed this species ten years ago on the same place, says that he
+"never heard a note of any description from them, either while in the
+neighborhood of these trees, or in flying to and fro between them and
+the forests." On his own trees the sapsucker was not in such haste, but
+lingered about the prepared rings, evidently taking his pick of the
+insects attracted there.</p>
+
+<p>The array of traps prepared for the woodpecker's use was most curious,
+and readily explained how he came by his name. The clever little workman
+had selected for his purpose two trees. One was a large elm, and around
+its trunk, about fifteen feet from the ground, he had laboriously cut
+with his sharp beak several rings of cups. These receptacles were
+somewhat less than half an inch in diameter, and nearly their own width
+apart, and the rings <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>encircled the trunk as regularly as though laid
+out with mechanical instruments. His second depot of supplies was one of
+a close group of mountain ashes, which seemed to spring from one root,
+and were thickly shaded by leaves to the ground. The elm would naturally
+attract the high-flying insects, and the ash those which stay nearer the
+earth, though I do not presume to say that was the bird's intention in
+so arranging them. The mountain-ash trunk was perforated in a different
+way from the elm, the holes being in lines up and down, and the whole
+trunk covered five or six feet above the root. These places were not at
+all moist or sticky on the several occasions when I examined them, and
+both trees were in a flourishing condition.</p>
+
+<p>The habit of the author of this elaborate arrangement was to fly from
+one tree to the other almost constantly. It appeared to lookers-on that
+he visited the traps on one and secured whatever was caught or lingered
+there, then went to the other for the same purpose; thus allowing
+insects a chance to settle on each while he was absent. At almost any
+hour of the day he could be found vigorously carrying on his insect hunt
+in this singular fashion.</p>
+
+<p>It was too late in the season to see the sapsucker in his most
+frolicsome humor, although occasionally we met in the woods two of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+in a lively mood, eagerly discussing in garrulous tones their own
+private affairs, or chasing each other with droll, taunting cries, some
+of which resembled the boy's yell, "oy-ee," but others defied
+description. During courtship, observes Dr. Merriam, they are
+inexpressibly comical, with queer rollicking ways and eccentric pranks,
+making the woods ring with their extraordinary voices. At this time,
+early in June, the season of woodpecker wooing was past. Each little
+couple had built a castle in the air, and set up a household of its own,
+somewhere in the woods surrounding the house.</p>
+
+<p>The two storehouses on the lawn seemed to belong to one family, whose
+labor alone had prepared them; certainly they were the property of the
+sapsuckers. But the bird world, like the human, has its spoilers. A
+frequent visitor to the elm, on poaching bent, was a humming-bird, who
+treated the beguiling cups like so many flowers, hovering lightly before
+them, and testing one after another in regular order. The owner
+naturally objected, and if present flew at the dainty robber; but the
+elusive birdling simply moved to another place, not in the least awed by
+his comparatively clumsy assailant. Large flies, perhaps bees also,
+buzzed around the tempting bait, and doubtless many paid with their
+lives for their folly.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p><p>The most unexpected plunderer of the sapsucker stores was a gray
+squirrel, who lay spread out flat against the trunk as though glued
+there, body, arms, legs, and even tail, with head down and closely
+pressed against the bark. I cannot positively affirm that he was sucking
+the sap or feeding upon the insects attracted to it, but it is a fact
+that his mouth rested exactly over one of the rings of holes; and his
+position seemed very satisfactory, for some reason, for he hung there
+motionless so long that I began to fear he was dead. All these petty
+pilferers may possibly have regarded the treasure as nature's own
+provision, like the flowers, but one visitor to his neighbor's magazine
+certainly knew better. This was the brilliant cousin of the sapsucker,
+the red-headed woodpecker, whose vagaries I shall speak of a little
+later.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing about the tri-colored family is more interesting than its habit
+of drumming,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">"The ceaseless rap</span><br />
+Of the yellow-hammer's tap,<br />
+Tip-tap, tip-tap, tip-tap-tip.<br />
+'Tis the merry pitter-patter<br />
+Of the yellow-hammer's tap."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Whether or not it is mere play is perhaps yet an open question. The
+drumming of the sapsucker, one of the most common sounds of the woods
+and lawn, seemed sometimes simply for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> amusement, but again it appeared
+exceedingly like a signal. A bird frequently settled himself in plain
+sight of us, on one of the trespass notices in the woods, and spent
+several minutes in that occupation, changing his place now and then, and
+thus producing different sounds, whether with that intention or not. Now
+he would tap on top of the board, again down one side, and then on a
+corner, but always on the edge. Nor was it a regular and monotonous
+rapping; it was curiously varied. One performance that I carefully noted
+down at the moment reminded me of the click of a telegraph instrument.
+It was "rat-tat-tat-t-t-t-t-rat-tat,"&mdash;the first three notes rather
+quick and sharp, the next four very rapid, and the last two quite slow.
+After tapping, the bird always seemed to listen. Often while I was
+watching one at his hammering, a signal of the same sort would come from
+a distance. Sometimes my bird replied; sometimes he instantly flew in
+the direction from which it came. Around the house the woodpeckers
+selected particular spots to use as drums, generally a bit of tin on a
+roof, or an eave-gutter of the same metal. A favorite place was the
+hindquarters of a gorgeous gilded deer that swung with the wind on the
+roof of the barn.</p>
+
+<p>So closely were they watched that the sapsuckers themselves were like
+old acquaintances<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> before the babes in the woods began to make
+themselves heard. No sooner had these little folk found their voices
+than they made the woods fairly echo. Cry-babies in feathers I thought I
+knew before, but the young woodpecker outdoes anything in my experience.
+No wonder the woodpecker mamma sets up her nursery out of the reach of
+prowlers of all sorts; so loud and so persistent are the demands of her
+nestlings that they would not be safe an hour, if they could be got at.
+The tone, too, must always arrest attention, for it is of the nasal
+quality I have mentioned. The first baby whisper, hardly heard at the
+foot of the tree, has a squeaky twang, which strengthens with the
+infant's strength, and the grown-up murmurs of love and screams of war
+are of the same order.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the nest-feeding days that we discovered most of the
+sapsucker homesteads; for, having many nests nearer our own level to
+study, we never sought them, and noticed them only when the baby voices
+attracted our attention. The home that apparently belonged to our bird
+of the lawn was beautifully placed in a beech-tree heavy with foliage.
+At first we thought the owner an eccentric personage, who had violated
+all sapsucker traditions by building in a living tree; but, on looking
+closely, it was evident that the top of the tree had been blown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> off,
+and from that break the trunk was dead two or three feet down. In that
+part was the opening, and the foliage that nearly hid it grew on the
+large branches below. Most of the nests, however, were in the customary
+dead trunks, on which we could gently rap, and bring out whoever was at
+home to answer our call.</p>
+
+<p>Young woodpeckers are somewhat precocious; or, to speak more correctly,
+they stay in the nest till almost mature. We see in this family no
+half-fledged youngster wandering aimlessly about, unable to fly or to
+help itself, a sight very common among the feathered folk whose homes
+are nearer the ground. One morning, a young bird, not yet familiar with
+the mysteries of the world about him, flew into the open window of a
+room in the house, and for an hour we had a fine opportunity to study
+him near at hand. The moment he entered he went to the cornice, and
+although he flew around freely, he did not descend so low as the top of
+the window, wide open for his benefit. He was not in the least afraid or
+embarrassed by his staring audience, nor did he beat himself against the
+wall and the furniture, as would many birds in his position; in fact, he
+showed unusual self-possession and self-reliance. He was exceedingly
+curious about his surroundings: tapped the wall, tested the top of
+picture frames, drummed on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> curtain cornice, and closely examined
+the ceiling. He was beautifully dressed in soft gray all mottled and
+spotted and barred with white, but he had not as yet put on the red cap
+of his fathers. While we watched him, he heard outside a sapsucker cry,
+to which he listened eagerly; then he drummed quite vigorously on the
+cornice, as if in reply. It was not till he must have been very hungry
+that he blundered out of the window, as he had doubtless blundered in.</p>
+
+<p>The beauty of the drumming family, at least in that part of the country,
+is the red-headed woodpecker, which it happened I did not know. The
+first time I saw one, he was out for an airing with his mate, one lovely
+evening in June. The pair were scrambling about, as if in play, on the
+trunk of a tall maple-tree across the lane. They did not welcome our
+visit, nor our perhaps rather rude way of gazing at them; for one flew
+away, and the other perched on the topmost dead branch of a tree a
+little farther off, and proceeded to express his mind by a scolding
+"kr-r-r," accompanied by violent bows toward us. Finding his
+demonstration unavailing, he soon followed his mate, and weeks passed
+before we saw him again, although we often walked down the lane with the
+hope of doing so.</p>
+
+<p>One beautiful morning, after the hay had been cut from the meadow, and
+all the hidden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> nests we had looked at and longed for while grass was
+growing, were opened to us, I had taken my comfortable folding-chair to
+a specially delightful nook between a clump of evergreens, which
+screened it from the house, and a row of maples, elms, and other trees,
+much frequented by birds. Close before me was a beautiful hawthorn-tree,
+in which a pair of kingbirds had long ago built their nest. On one side
+I could look over to an impenetrable, somewhat swampy thicket, where
+song sparrows and indigo birds nested; on the other, past the
+picturesque old-fashioned arbor, half buried under vines and untrimmed
+trees, far down the pretty carriage-drive between young elms and
+flowering shrubs, where the bobolink had raised her brood, and the
+meadow lark had chanted his vesper hymn for us all through June. Many
+winged strangers came to feast on the treasures uncovered by the
+hay-cutter, and then the shy red-head showed himself on our grounds. To
+my surprise, he was searching the freshly cut stubble not at all like a
+woodpecker, but hobbling about most awkwardly, half flying, half
+hopping, seeking some delectable morsel, which, when found, he carried
+to the side of a tree-trunk, thrust into a crack, and ate at his
+leisure. The object I saw him treat in this way was as large as a bee,
+and he was some time in disposing of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> it, even after it was anchored in
+the crack. Then, observing that, although a long way off, I was
+interested in his doings, he slipped around behind the trunk, and peered
+at me first from one side, then in an instant from the other.</p>
+
+<p>The next performance with which this bird entertained me was poaching
+upon his cousin's preserves. Sitting one evening on the veranda, looking
+over the meadow, I heard his low "kr-r-r," and saw him alight upon the
+sapsucker's elm. Whether he stumbled upon the feast or went with malice
+aforethought, he was not slow to appreciate the charms of his position.
+It may have been the nectar from the tree, or the minute victims of its
+attractions, I could not tell which, but something pleased him, for he
+devoted himself to the task of exploring the tiny cups his industrious
+relative had carved, driving away one of the younger members of the
+family already in possession. The young bird could not refuse to go
+before the big beak and determined manner of the stranger, but he did
+refuse to stay away; and every time he was ousted he returned to the
+tree, though he settled on a different place. Before the red-head had
+shown any signs of exhausting his find, the sapsucker himself appeared,
+and at once fell upon his bigger cousin with savage cries. Disturbed so
+rudely from his pleasing occupation, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>intruder retired before the
+attack, though he protested vigorously; and so great was the fascination
+of the spot, that he returned again and again, every time to go through
+the same process of being driven away.</p>
+
+<p>The raspberry hedge before my windows was the decoy that gave me my best
+chance to study the red-headed woodpecker. Day after day, as the berries
+ripened, I watched the dwellers of wood and meadow drawn to the rich
+feast, and at last, one morning, to my great joy, I saw the interesting
+drummer alight on a post overlooking the loaded vines. He plainly felt
+himself a stranger, and not certain of his reception by the residents of
+the neighborhood, for he crouched close to the fence, and looked warily
+about on every side. He had been there but a few moments when a robin,
+self-constituted dictator of that particular corner of the premises,
+came down a few feet from him, as if to inquire his business. The
+woodpecker acknowledged the courtesy by drawing himself up very straight
+and bowing. The bow impressed, not to say awed, the native bird. He
+stood staring blankly, till the new-comer proclaimed his errand by
+dropping into the bushes, helping himself to a berry, and returning to
+the fence to dispose of his plunder. This was too much; the outraged
+redbreast dashed suddenly over the head<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> of the impertinent visitor,
+almost touching it as he passed. The woodpecker kept his ground in spite
+of this demonstration, and I learned how a bird accustomed to rest, and
+even to work, hanging to the trunk of a tree, would manage to pluck and
+eat fruit from a bush. He first sidled along the top of the board fence,
+looking down, till he had selected his berry. Then he half dropped, half
+flew, into the bushes, and sometimes seized the ripe morsel instantly,
+without alighting, but generally hung, back down, on a stalk which bent
+and swayed with his weight, while he deliberately gathered the fruit. He
+then returned to the fence, laid his prize down, and pecked it apart,
+making three or four bites of it. After some practice he learned to
+swallow a berry whole, though it often required three or four attempts,
+and seemed almost more than he could manage. When he had accomplished
+this feat, he sat with his head drawn down into his shoulders, as though
+he found himself uncomfortably stuffed. Having eaten two or three
+raspberries, our distinguished visitor always picked another, with which
+he flew away,&mdash;doubtless for the babies growing up in some dead tree
+across the lane.</p>
+
+<p>The little difficulty with the robin was easily settled by the stranger.
+Somewhat later in that first day, he took his revenge for the insulting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+dash over him by turning the tables and sweeping over the lofty head of
+the astonished robin, who ducked ingloriously, in his surprise, and
+called out, "Tut! tut!" as who should say, "Can such things be?" After
+that Master Robin undertook a closer surveillance of that highway the
+fence, and might be seen at all hours perched on the tall gatepost,
+looking out for callers in brilliant array, or running along its whole
+length to see that no wily woodpecker was hiding in the bushes. He could
+not be on guard every moment, for his nursery up under the eaves of the
+barn was full of clamorous babies, and he was obliged to give some
+attention to them; but the red-head was not afraid of him, and, finding
+the fruit to his taste, he soon became a daily guest.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the spouse of the gay little fellow came also. She was always
+greeted by a low-whispered "kr-r-r," and the husky-toned conversation
+between the two was kept up so long as both were there. Now, too, as the
+male began to feel at home, I saw more of his odd ways. His attitudes
+were especially comical. Sometimes he clung to the edge of the top
+board, his tail pressed against it, his wings drooped and spread a
+little, exposing his whole back, and thus remained for perhaps ten
+minutes. Again he flattened himself out on top of a post for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> sun
+bath. He sprawled and spread himself, every feather standing independent
+of its neighbor, till he looked as if he had been smashed flat, and more
+like some of the feather monstrosities with which milliners disfigure
+their hats than a living bird.</p>
+
+<p>Another curious habit of my versatile guest was his fly-catching. It is
+already notorious that the golden-wing is giving up the profession of
+woodpecker and becoming a ground bird; it is equally patent to one who
+observes him that the red-head is learning the trade of fly-catching.
+Frequently, during the weeks that I had him under observation, I saw him
+fly up in the air and return to the fence, exactly like the kingbird.</p>
+
+<p>All the time I had been making this pleasing acquaintance I had longed
+in vain to find the red-head's nest. It was probably in the pasture in
+which we had first met him, where the somewhat spirited cattle in
+possession prevented my explorations. I hoped at least to see his young
+family; but July days passed away, and though the bonny couple spent
+much time among the raspberries, they always carried off the nestlings'
+share.</p>
+
+<p>In the very last hours of my stay, after trunks were packed, fate
+relented, and I spent nearly the whole day studying the "tricks and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>manners" of a red-headed baby. I had returned from my last morning's
+walk in the woods, and was seated by my window, thinking half sadly that
+my summer was ended, when I saw the woodpecker come to the raspberries,
+gather one, and fly away with it. Instead, however, of heading, as
+usual, for the woods across the pasture, he alighted on a fence near by.
+A small dark head rose above the edge of a board, opened a bill, and
+received the berry in it. Instantly I turned my glass upon that
+meek-looking head. So soon as the old bird disappeared the young one
+came up in sight, and in a few moments flew over to the nearer fence,
+beside the bushes. Then one of the parents returned, fed him two or
+three times, apparently to show him that berries grew on bushes, and not
+in the beak, and then departed with an air that said, "There, my son,
+are the berries; help yourself!"</p>
+
+<p>Left now to his own devices, the little woodpecker was my study for
+hours. He was like his parents, except that he was gray where they were
+red, and the white on the wings was barred off with a dark color which
+on theirs did not appear. Like young creatures the world over, he at
+once began to amuse himself, working at a hole in the top of a post,
+digging into it vehemently, and at last, after violent effort, bringing
+out a stick nearly as long as himself. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> he brandished about as a
+child flourishes a whip, and presently laid it down, worried it, flung
+it about, and had a rare frolic with it. Tiring of that, he closely
+examined the fence, going over it inch by inch, and pecking every mark
+and stain on it. When startled by a bird flying over or alighting near
+him, he sprang back instantly, slipped over behind the fence or post,
+and hung on by his claws, leaving only his head in sight. He was a true
+woodpecker in his manners; bowing to strangers who appeared, driving
+away one of his sapsucker cousins who came about, and keeping up a low
+cry of "kr-r-r" almost exactly like his parents. He showed also great
+interest in a party of goldfinches, who seemed to have gone mad that
+morning.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the thought of berries struck the young red-head. He began to
+consider going for them. One could fairly see the idea grow in his mind.
+He leaned over and peered into the bushes; he hitched along the fence, a
+little nearer, bent over again, then came down on the side of the board,
+and hung there, with body inclined toward the fruit. After many such
+feints, he actually did drop to the second board, and a little later
+secured a berry, which he took to the top of the post to eat. In spite
+of the fact that he was amply able to help himself, as he proved, he
+still demanded food when his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>parents came near, bowing and calling
+eagerly, but not fluttering his wings, as do most young birds.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all day the little fellow entertained himself; working
+industriously on the fence, hammering the posts as if to keep in
+practice, as children play at their parents' life work, and varying
+these occupations with occasional excursions into the bushes for
+berries. The notion of flying away from where he had been left never
+appeared to enter his head. He seemed to be an unusually well-balanced
+young person, and intelligent beyond his years,&mdash;days, I should say.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>FROM MY WINDOW.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> best place I have found for spying upon the habits of birds is
+behind a blind. If one can command a window with outside blinds, looking
+upon a spot attractive to the feathered world, he will be sure, sooner
+or later, to see every bird of the vicinity. If he will keep the blinds
+closed and look only through the opened slats, he will witness more of
+their unconstrained free ways than can possibly be seen by a person
+within their sight, though he assume the attitude and the stolidity of a
+wooden figure. Says our nature-poet, Emerson:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"You often thread the woods in vain<br />
+To see what singer piped the strain.<br />
+Seek not, and the little eremite<br />
+Flies forth and gayly sings in sight."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>And the bird student can testify to the truth of the verse.</p>
+
+<p>Many times, after having spent the morning in wandering about in the
+bird haunts of a neighborhood, I have returned to my room to write up my
+note-book, and have seen more of birds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> and bird life in an hour from my
+window than during the whole morning's stroll.</p>
+
+<p>One of my windows, last summer, looked out upon an ideal bird corner: a
+bit of grass, uncut till very late, with a group of trees and shrubs at
+the lower boundary, and an old board fence, half buried in luxuriant
+wild raspberry bushes, running along one side. It was a neglected spot,
+the side yard of a farmhouse; and I was careful not to enter it myself
+so often as to suggest to the birds that they were likely to see people.
+It had the further advantage of being so near the woods surrounding the
+house, that the shy forest birds were attracted to it.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner would I seat myself, pen in hand, than chirps and twitters
+would come from the trees, a bird alight on the fence, or a red squirrel
+come out to sun himself. Of course the pen gave way to the opera-glass
+in a moment, and often not a line of the note-book got itself written
+till birds and squirrels had gone to bed with the sun.</p>
+
+<p>The group of trees which bounded my view at the end of this outdoor
+study I called the "locust group." It consisted of a locust or two,
+surrounded by a small but close growth of lesser trees and shrubs that
+made a heavy mass of foliage. There were a few young ashes, two or three
+half-grown maples, a shadberry bush, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> wild raspberry vines to carry
+the varied foliage to the ground. Inside this beautiful tangle of
+Nature's own arranging, was a perfect tent, so thickly grown near the
+ground that a person could hardly penetrate it without an axe, but open
+and roomy above, with branches and twigs enough to accommodate an army
+of birds. Behind that waving green curtain of leaves took place many
+dramas I longed to see; but I knew that my appearance there would be a
+signal for the whole scene to vanish, and with flit of wings the
+<i>dramatis person&aelig;</i> to make their exit. So I tried to possess my soul in
+patience, and to content myself with the flashes and glimpses I could
+catch through an opening here and there in the leafy drapery.</p>
+
+<p>At one corner of the group stood a small dead tree. This was the
+ph&#339;be's customary perch, and on those bare branches&mdash;first or
+last&mdash;every visitor was sure to appear. On the lower branch the robin
+paused, with worm in mouth, on the way to his two-story nest under the
+eaves of the barn. On the top spire the warbler baby sat and stared at
+the world about it, till its anxious parent could coax it to a more
+secluded perch. From a side branch the veery poured his wonderful song,
+and the cheery little song sparrow uttered his message of good will for
+all to hear and heed. Here the red-headed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>woodpecker waited, with low
+"k-r-r-r-r" and many bows to the universe in general, to see if the way
+were clear for him to go to the fence. Nothing is so good to bring birds
+into sight as an old fence or a dead tree. On the single leafless branch
+at the top of an old apple-tree the student will generally see, at one
+time or another, every bird in an orchard.</p>
+
+<p>This dead tree of the locust group was the regular perch of "the
+loneliest of its kind," the ph&#339;be, whose big chuckle-head and high
+shoulders gave him the look of an old man, bent with age. His outline
+one could never mistake, even though he were but a silhouette against
+the sky. One of these birds could nearly always be seen on the lowest
+branch pursuing his business of fly-catcher, and I learned more of the
+singularly reserved creature than I ever knew before. I found, contrary
+to my expectation, that he had a great deal to say for himself, aside
+from the professional performance at the peak of the barn roof which
+gives him his name.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Ph&#339;be is all it has to say<br />
+In plaintive cadence o'er and o'er,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>sings the poet, but he had not so close acquaintance with him as I
+enjoyed behind my blind. There were two mud cottages in the
+neighborhood, and two pairs of birds to occupy them, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> no ph&#339;be of
+spirit will tolerate in silence another of his kind near him. Sparrows
+of all sorts might come about; juncos and chickadees, thrushes and
+warblers, might alight on his chosen tree,&mdash;rarely a word would he say;
+but let a ph&#339;be appear, and there began at once a war of words. It
+might be mere friendly talk, but it sounded very much like vituperation
+and "calling names," and I noticed that it ended in a chase and the
+disappearance of one of them.</p>
+
+<p>Again, whenever a ph&#339;be alighted on the fence he made a low but
+distinct remark that sounded marvelously like "cheese-it," and several
+times the mysterious bird treated me to a very singular performance. He
+hovered like a humming-bird close before a nest, looking into it and
+uttering a loud strange cry, like the last note of "ph&#339;be" repeated
+rapidly, as "be-be-be." Was it derision, complaint, or a mere neighborly
+call? This was not for the benefit of his own family, for he did it
+before the robin's nest. I thought at first he meant mischief to the
+young robins, but although he approached very near he did not actually
+touch them.</p>
+
+<p>The loudest note this bird uttered was, of course, his well-known
+"ph&#339;be," which he delivered from the peak of the barn (never from the
+dead tree) with an emphasis that proclaimed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> to all whom it might
+concern that he had something on his mind. It was plain that he was a
+person of cares; indeed, his whole bearing was that of one with no
+nonsense about him, with serious duties to perform. I wonder if these
+birds are ever playful! Even the babies are dignified and
+self-contained. Ph&#339;bes in a frolic would be a rare sight. Of the two
+nests whose owners I had to study, one was on a low beam in the
+cow-barn, where a person might look in; the other under the eaves of a
+farm-building close by.</p>
+
+<p>The special policeman of the group and its environs was a robin, who
+lived in a two-story nest under the eaves of the hay-barn. This bird,
+after the manner of his family, constituted himself regulator and
+dictator. He lived in peace with the ordinary residents, but took it
+upon himself to see that no stranger showed his head near the spot. He
+chased the crow blackbird who happened to fly over on business of his
+own, and by calls for help brought the whole robin population about the
+ears of the intruder. He also headed the mob of redbreasts that
+descended one morning upon a meek-looking half-grown kitten, who chanced
+to cast its innocent eyes upon a robin baby under the trees on another
+side of the house. The youngster could fly with ease, but he preferred
+to stay on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> ground, for he quickly returned there when I put him on
+a low branch; and when a robin makes up his mind, arguments are useless.
+The same robin bullied the red-headed woodpecker, and flew at the
+kingbird when he brought his young family up to taste the raspberries.</p>
+
+<p>One visitor there was, however, to the fence and the locusts whom Master
+Robin did not molest. When a prolonged, incisive "pu-eep" in the martial
+and inspiring tone of the great-crested fly-catcher broke the silence, I
+observed that the robin always had plenty of his own business to attend
+to. I admire this beautiful bird, perhaps because he is the inveterate
+enemy of the house sparrow, and almost the only one who actually keeps
+that little bully in his proper place. There is to me something pleasing
+in the bearing of the great-crest, who, though of few inches, carries
+himself in a manner worthy of an eagle. Even the play of a pair of them
+on the tops of the tallest dead trees in the woods, though merry enough
+with loud joyful cries, has a certain dignity and circumspection about
+it uncommon in so small a bird.</p>
+
+<p>A pair of great-crests were frequent visitors to the fence, where they
+were usually very quiet. But one day as the male flew over from the
+woods, his call was answered by a loud-voiced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> canary, whose cage hung
+all summer outside the kitchen door. The stranger alighted on a tree,
+apparently astonished to be challenged, but he replied at once. The
+canary, who was out of sight on the other side of the cottage, answered,
+and the droll conversation was kept up for some time; the woods bird
+turning his head this way and that, eager to see his social neighbor,
+but unable, of course, to do so.</p>
+
+<p>A little later in the season, when baby birds began to fly about, the
+locust group became even more attractive. Its nearness to the woods, as
+already mentioned, made it convenient for forest birds, and its
+seclusion and supply of food were charms they could not resist. First of
+the fledglings to appear were a family of crow blackbirds, four of them
+with their parents. These are the least interesting feathered young
+people I know, but the parents are among the most devoted. They keep
+their little flock together, and work hard to fill their mouths. The low
+cry is husky, but insistent, and they flutter their wings with great
+energy, holding them out level with the back.</p>
+
+<p>After berries began to ripen, the woodpeckers came to call on us. In my
+walk in the woods in the morning, I frequently brought home a branch of
+elder with two or three clusters of berries, which I hung in the small
+dead tree. In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> that way I drew some of the woods birds about. The downy
+woodpecker was one of my first callers. He came with a sharp
+"chit-it-it," hung upon the clusters, occasionally head down, and picked
+and ate as long as he liked. The vigilant robin would sometimes fly at
+him, and he would leave; but in a moment back he came, and went on with
+his repast. When the care of an infant fell to him, he brought his
+charge to the source of supplies. A farm wagon happened to stand near
+the dead tree, and on this the young woodpecker alighted, and stood
+humped up and quiet while his parent went to the berries, picked several
+for himself, and then proceeded to feed him. This young person was very
+circumspect in his behavior. He did not flutter nor cry, in the usual
+bird-baby manner, but received his food with perfect composure. Berries,
+however, seemed to be new to him, and he did not appear to relish them,
+for after tasting two or three he flew away. In spite of this he came
+again the next day, and then he flew over to a cluster himself, and
+hung, back down, while he ate. He was charming with his sweet low
+chatter, and very lovely in plumage, white as snow, with dark markings
+clear and soft.</p>
+
+<p>One of the prettiest of our guests was a young chestnut-sided warbler.
+He looked much bigger than his papa, as warbler babies often do; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+that is probably because the young bird is not accustomed to his suit of
+feathers, and does not know how to manage them. Some of them appear like
+a child in his grandfather's coat. The chestnut-sided warbler was
+himself an attractive little fellow, with a generous desire to help in
+the world's work pleasant to see in bird or man. After becoming greatly
+interested in one we had seen in the woods, who insisted on helping a
+widowed redstart feed her youngster, and had almost to fight the little
+dame to do so, we found another chestnut-sided warbler engaged in
+helping his fellows. Whether it were the same bird we could not tell; we
+certainly discovered him in the same corner of the woods. This little
+fellow was absorbed in the care of an infant more than twice as big as
+himself. "A cowbird baby!" will exclaim every one who knows the habit,
+shameful from our point of view, of the cowbird, to impose her infants
+on her neighbors to hatch and bring up. But this baby, unfortunately for
+the "wisdom of the wise," did not resemble the cowbird family.</p>
+
+<p>We saw the strange pair several times in the woods, and then one day, as
+I sat at my window trying to write, I heard a new cry, and saw a strange
+bird fly to the fence. He was very restless, ran along the top board,
+then flew to another fence, scrambled along a few feet, raising<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> and
+lowering his tail, and all the time uttering a husky two-note baby-cry.
+While I was struggling to keep him in the field of my glass long enough
+to note his points, he went to the dead tree, when the philosophical
+ph&#339;be sitting there took his case in hand, and made a dash for him.
+The stranger flew straight over the house, with his assailant in close
+chase. But in a moment I heard the baby-cry in a maple beside the
+cottage, while the ph&#339;be calmly returned to his post and gave his
+mind again to his fly-catching. The young bird was not in range from the
+window, but when, a few seconds later, I heard the feeding-cry, I could
+no longer resist the desire to see him.</p>
+
+<p>I forgot my caution, and rushed out of the house, for I suspected that
+this uneasy visitor was the chestnut-sided's adopted charge. So I found
+it. There stood the infant, big and clumsy by comparison, calling,
+calling, forever calling; and stretching up on tiptoe, as it were, to
+reach him was the poor little warbler, trying to stop his mouth by
+stuffing him. The foster-parent lingered as if he were weary, and his
+plumage looked as if he had not dressed it for a week. But the insatiate
+beggar gave him no peace; with the swallowing of the last morsel began
+his cry for more. Again, standing within ten feet of him, I noticed the
+young bird's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> points, and again I was convinced that he was not a
+cowbird baby.</p>
+
+<p>The curious antics of a solemn kingbird, who did not suspect his hidden
+observer, were droll to look upon. He seemed to be alone on the fence,
+though some silent spectator may have been hidden behind the leaves. He
+mounted suddenly straight up in the air, with cries, twenty feet or
+more, then soared down with a beautiful display of his plumage. This he
+did many times in succession, with an indescribably conscious air, and
+at last he dropped behind some tall grass in the pasture. It looked
+exceedingly like "showing off," and who could imagine a kingbird in that
+r&ocirc;le!</p>
+
+<p>But all flourishes were over when, somewhat later, he brought his lovely
+little family of three to the fence to be treated to berries. It was
+interesting to see a fly-catcher take his fruit "on the wing," as it
+were; that is, fly at it, seize it, and jerk it off without alighting.
+The ph&#339;be picked berries in the same way, when he occasionally
+condescended to investigate the attraction that brought so many
+strangers into his quiet corner.</p>
+
+<p>The young kingbirds were sweet and chatty among themselves, and they
+decidedly approved the berries; but they never lost sight of each other,
+and kept close together, the little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>company of three, as I have seen
+other kingbirds do. One day they came in the rain, feathers all in
+locks, showing the dark color next the skin, and looking like beggars in
+"rags and tags," but they were as cheerful and as clannish as ever.</p>
+
+<p>To the locust group, too, came the red-headed woodpeckers; at first the
+parents, who talked to each other in whispered "kr-r-r-r's," and carried
+off many a sweet morsel to their family in the woods; later, one
+youngster, who took possession of the fence with the calm assurance of
+his race, and when I left the place had apparently established himself
+there for the season.</p>
+
+<p>Many others alighted on the fence; the junco, with his pretty brown
+bantling and his charming little trilling song; the crow baby, with its
+funny ways and queer cry of "ma-a-a;" the redstart, who</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Folds and unfolds his twinkling tail in sport;"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>the flicker mamma, with her "merry pitter-patter" and her baby as big as
+herself. Even the sapsucker from the lawn had somehow heard the news
+that a feast was spread near the locusts, and came over to see.</p>
+
+<p>Birds were not the only frequenters of the fence and the berry bushes.
+There were squirrels, gray and red, and chipmunks, who sat up pertly on
+a post, with two little paws laid upon their heart in theatrical
+attitude, as who should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> say, "Be still, my heart," while they looked
+the country over to see if any lurking member of the human family were
+about. The red squirrels were the most amusing, for they were very
+frolicsome, indulging in mad chases over and under the fence, through
+the trees, around the trunks, so rapidly that they resembled a red
+streak more than little beasts.</p>
+
+<p>One squirrel adopted the fence as his regular highway, and the high post
+of the farm gate as his watch-tower. He often sunned himself, lying on
+his face, with his legs and his tail spread out as flat as if he had
+been smashed. His presence scared the birds from the neighborhood, and I
+undertook to discourage him. I went out one day when I saw him near the
+fence. The squirrel made up his mind to pass over the gate and get into
+the locust, but I posted myself quite near, and he did not like to pass
+me. Giving up his plan is no part of a squirrel's intention, however,
+and every moment he would scramble up a few feet one side of me, with
+the design of running past me. As soon as his sharp black eyes showed
+above the top board I cried "Shoo!" He understood my motion, and
+doubtless would if I had said "Scat!" or "Get out!" (What should one say
+to a squirrel?)</p>
+
+<p>He dashed behind his barricade and disappeared. But he did not "stay
+put;" in two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> seconds he tried it again, and again his discouraging
+reception drove him back. He grew wary, however, and pretty soon I began
+to notice that every time he made his dash to the top he was a few
+inches nearer the gate, which stretched like a bridge from the fence to
+the locust-tree, and of course so much nearer me. At last, advancing
+thus inch by inch, he came up close to the gate, so near I could have
+put my hand on him,&mdash;that is, I could have put my hand on the place he
+occupied, for he did not stay to be caressed; he flew across the gate,
+sprang three or four feet into the tree, and was out of sight before I
+could lift a finger. This passage having been successfully made, he felt
+that he was safe, and could afford to be saucy. He began the usual
+scold. Then I tossed a little stick up toward him, as a reminder that
+human power is not limited by the length of an arm, and he subsided.</p>
+
+<p>Once when he came up to the fence top, before his grand dash, I laughed
+at him. Strange to say, this made him furious. He reviled me vehemently.
+No doubt, if I had understood his language, I should have been covered
+with confusion, for I confess that he could make a very good point
+against me. What business had I, an interloper in his dominion, to
+interfere with his rights, or to say whether he should dine off birds or
+berries?</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE COMICAL CROW BABY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Nothing</span> in the world of feathers is so comical as a crow baby, with its
+awkward bows and ungainly hops, its tottering steps on the fence and its
+mincing, tight-boot sort of gait on the ground, its eager fluttering
+when it has hopes of food, and its loud and unintermitting demand for
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>My window overlooked a long stretch of cattle pastures and meadows still
+uncut, bounded on one side by woods, and in the middle of this valley
+unvisited by man, the crows of the neighborhood established a training
+school for their youngsters. A good glass let me in as unsuspected
+audience, and I had views of many interesting family scenes, supposed by
+the wary parents to be visible only to the cows stolidly feeding on the
+hillside. In this way I had all the fun and none of the trouble of the
+training business.</p>
+
+<p>It is astonishing how completely the manner of the adult crow is lacking
+in his young offspring, whose only external difference is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> want of a
+tail. Must we then conclude that the dignity of a bird depends upon the
+length of his tail? We are accustomed to regard the crow as a grave and
+solemn personage with a serious r&ocirc;le in life; and indeed life is such a
+constant warfare to him that I cannot see how he finds any enjoyment in
+it. Lowell says of him at one period:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The crow is very comical as a lover, and to hear him try to soften
+his croak to the proper Saint Preux standard has something the
+effect of a Mississippi boatman quoting Tennyson." </p></div>
+
+<p>If he is droll as a lover, he is much more entertaining as an infant.
+The first I knew of the new use of the pasture, I heard one morning a
+strange cry. It was loud and persistent, and sounded marvelously like
+"Ma-a! Ma-a!" Mingled with it I heard the vigorous cries of crows.</p>
+
+<p>I looked over into the pasture, and there I first saw the crow baby,
+nearly as big and black as his mamma, but with no tail to speak of. He
+sat&mdash;not stood&mdash;on the rail fence, bawling at the top of his hoarse
+baby-voice, "Ma! Ma! Ma!" and as he grew impatient he uttered it faster
+and faster and louder and louder, drawing in his breath between the
+cries, and making it more like "Wah! Wah!" Whenever mamma flew over he
+followed her movement with his eyes, turning his head, and showing an
+eager,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> almost painful interest, till some one took pity on him and fed
+him. As he saw food approaching his voice ran up several tones higher,
+in laughable imitation of a human baby cry. This note is of course the
+promise of a "caw," but the <i>a</i> is flattened to the sound of <i>a</i> in bar,
+which makes it a ludicrous caricature of our own first utterances.</p>
+
+<p>But sometimes mamma did not heed the cries, and sailed calmly by,
+alighting a few rails beyond her hungry infant, though he held out his
+fluttering wings in the bird-baby's begging way, exactly as does a young
+warbler who wouldn't be a mouthful for him. Then the little fellow would
+start up on unsteady legs, to walk the rail to reach her, balancing
+himself with outspread wings, and when he got beside her, put his beak
+to hers in a coaxing way that I don't see how any mother could resist.
+But this wise dame had evidently hardened her heart. She probably wanted
+him to learn to help himself, for she dropped to the ground, and went
+wading about in the wet grass and mud, and at length flew off without
+giving him a morsel. Then the disappointed youngster cuddled up to a
+brother crow baby, and both lifted up their voices and lamented the
+emptiness of the cold, cold world.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the most comical performance of this clumsy baby was his way of
+alighting on a fence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> when he had been flying. He seized the board with
+his claws, which clung for dear life, while his body went on as it was
+going, with the result almost of a somersault. He tried to learn,
+however. He made great efforts to master the vagaries of fences, the
+irregularities of the ground, the peculiarities of branches. He
+persistently walked the rail fence, though he had to spread both wings
+to keep his balance. Then he climbed to the top of the rail which stood
+up at the corners, and maintained his position with great effort, but
+never gave up the attempt.</p>
+
+<p>These interesting young folks dote on fences, after they get used to
+them, and not having learned to recognize them as devices of the enemy,
+capable of concealing a trap of some sort, they will come quite near a
+house when they see no one about. So I, behind my blind, had excellent
+chance to watch their ways. For I try to keep my window view good by
+contenting myself with what I can see from it, and never going out to
+give the birds a notion that they must look out for visitors.</p>
+
+<p>One day when the grass had been cut from the meadow before the house,
+and I had encamped under the shade of a big maple to see how the
+kingbirds were coming on in nesting, I noticed a young crow walking in
+the hot stubble, trying to find something to eat. He wandered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> about
+looking in vain to see something attractive. A robin who was also
+engaged in a food-hunt came and "took his measure," looking sharply at
+him as if to decide whether it was his duty to go for him. He plainly
+recognized the youthfulness of the intruder, for after a moment's study
+he passed on, attending to his own business, while the young crow stared
+at him in open-mouthed curiosity. At last the crow baby picked up an
+object&mdash;I could not tell what&mdash;which hung from his beak while he
+balanced the probabilities of its being good, aiding his deliberations
+by a gentle lift of the wings which looked like a shrug of the
+shoulders. He decided to risk it, and swallowed, but instantly choked it
+up, and for some time shook his head as if to get rid of even the memory
+of it. When, a few minutes after this disastrous experience, he heard
+another baby utter the cries that indicate being fed, it seemed to
+suggest to him an easier way of getting satisfaction out of life. He
+spread his wings, flew to a tree and began to call.</p>
+
+<p>To be a crow mamma is no sinecure. My heart went out to the poor souls
+who must be torn between anxiety for their dear "cantankerous"
+offspring, and fear of their deadly enemy, man. I watched with deep
+interest their method of training. One day I saw a baby get an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>object
+lesson in his proper attitude toward mankind, in this way. An old and a
+young crow were nearer the house than usual, and I walked down toward
+the fence to see why. The instant my head appeared, the elder flew with
+terrific outcry, for which of course I did not blame the poor creature,
+since mankind has proved itself her bitterest foe. The infant was nearly
+frightened to death, and followed as quickly as his awkward wings would
+carry him. I do not like to figure as "Rawhead and bloody-bones" in the
+nursery of even a crow baby, so I tried several times to redeem the bad
+name of my race. But to no avail; that subtle mamma had acquired her
+wisdom by experience, and she knew me as one of a species quite capable
+of murdering an innocent crow baby.</p>
+
+<p>I was interested to see the young family in the pasture taking lessons
+in following, or flying in a flock. There was great excitement and
+calling, and all flew, excepting one, who stood quietly on a big stone
+by himself. They simply circled around and alighted again, so it plainly
+was only an exercise. But the baby who did not learn the lesson and
+follow, was punished by one of the grown-ups, who flew directly against
+him on the return, and knocked him off his perch; the hint was taken,
+and the next time they flew no one stayed behind.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p><p>Day by day the excitement in the crow world grew, and new families
+appeared in the pasture as fast as old ones got out. The rails of the
+fence were always occupied by young ones&mdash;though never more than five or
+six at a time&mdash;crying and shrieking and calling for "Ma-a!" and old ones
+all the time flying about half distracted, cawing and trying, I suppose,
+to enforce some order and discipline among the unruly rogues. Order,
+however, was quite a secondary consideration; the pressing duty of the
+hour was feeding. A crow parent on a foraging expedition is a most
+unwelcome visitor to the farmer with young chickens, or the bird-lover
+interested in the fate of nestlings. Yet when I saw the persecuted
+creature in the character of provider for four hungry and ever clamorous
+mouths, to whose wants she is as alive as we are to the wants of our
+babies, I took a new view of crow depredations, and could not see why
+her children should not have a chicken or a bird for breakfast, as well
+as ours. Poor hunted crow, against whom every man's hand is raised! She
+feels, with reason, that every human being is a deadly enemy thirsting
+for her life, that every cylinder pointed upward is loaded with death,
+that every string is a cruel snare to entangle and maim her,&mdash;yet whose
+offspring, dear as ours to us, clamor for food. How should she know that
+it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> is wrong to eat chickens; or that robin babies were made to live and
+grow up, and crow babies to die of starvation? The farmer ignores the
+millions of insects she destroys, and shoots her for the one chicken she
+takes, though she has been amply proved to be one of his most valuable
+servants. The kingbird and the oriole worry her life out of her because
+her babies like eggs&mdash;as who does not!</p>
+
+<p>In fact, there are, emphatically, two sides to the crow question, and I
+take the side of the crow.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A MIDSUMMER WOOING.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> "sweet June days" had passed, and bird nesting was nearly at an end.
+Woods and fields were bubbling over with young bird notes, and the
+pretty cradles on tree and shrub were empty and deserted. A few motherly
+souls, it is true, were still occupied with their second broods, but, in
+general, feathered families were complete, and the parents were busy
+training their little folk for life.</p>
+
+<p>One bird, however, the charming, sweet-voiced goldfinch,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"All black and gold, a flame of fire,"<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>still held aloof, as is his custom. He does not follow the fashion of
+his fellows; he resists the allurements of the nesting month; he waits.
+Whether it be for a late-coming insect necessary to the welfare of his
+nestlings, or for the thistle silk which alone makes fit cushion for his
+delicate spouse and her "wee babies," opinions differ.</p>
+
+<p>But though goldfinch nests were not set up, goldfinch wooing went on
+with enthusiasm; the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> summer air rang with sweetest song, and the
+graceful wave-like flight charmed us from morning till night. The
+courtship of the bird of July is a beautiful sight. He is at all times
+peculiarly joyous, but at this season his little body seems hardly able
+to contain him; so great is his rapture, indeed, that it infects and
+inspires the most matter-of-fact student. Our bird-loving poet Celia
+Thaxter must have seen him in loverly mood when she thus addressed
+him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+"Where do you hide such a store of delight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O delicate creature, tiny and slender,</span><br />
+Like a mellow morning sunbeam bright,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Overflowing with music tender?"</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>At all hours of these enchanted days, whether fair or foul, the winsome
+little fellows were flying hither and thither, singing and calling in
+ecstatic tones, bounding through the air, and hardly pausing long enough
+to eat. July was fast slipping away when the excitement deepened and
+matters grew more serious. Then the observer, if he were wary, might
+catch occasional glimpses of puzzling scenes, mysteries of bird life
+that could not be unraveled because he did not see the whole.</p>
+
+<p>At one time the student came upon a scene like this: Two or three of the
+little dames in olive and gold hopping about on an evergreen tree,
+ostensibly eating, calling, in their enticing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> voices, "sw-e-e-t!" and
+to all appearance unconscious of the presence of two of their bright
+young wooers, sitting in perfect silence on an upper branch. Suddenly
+from this happy party one of the damsels flew, when instantly one of the
+black-winged suitors flashed out in pursuit. On she went, flying madly,
+encircled one tree, dashed to another, and around that, passed up and
+down, here and there, this way and that, but everywhere with her
+follower close after her, singing at the top of his voice, till they
+disappeared in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>Can the goldfinch wooing be a sort of Comanche affair? Is the little
+bride won by force? Or is she, perchance, like some of her sisters of
+larger growth, who require a "scene" of some sort to make them "name the
+day"?</p>
+
+<p>Again, attracted by loud eager singing, the student found a pair who
+were apparently fighting,&mdash;the peaceful goldfinch! They flew up close
+together, they almost clinched, then flew away to a group of trees,
+under, over, around, between, through, and beyond they went, never six
+inches apart, and he singing furiously all the time. At last, just as
+the looker-on expected to see them grapple, they calmly alighted on a
+tree eight or ten feet from each other. Nothing but a frolic, obviously!</p>
+
+<p>Another curious performance of this July<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> wooing was several times
+noted. Hearing a strange and unfamiliar cry, in a tone of distress, I
+drew cautiously near, and found, on a low branch, one of the goldfinch
+maidens, uttering the plaintive notes, which, by the way, were
+afterwards very common about the nests. She held in her beak something
+which might be a tiny green worm, or a bit of nesting material, and she
+called constantly, looking about this way and that, as if seeking some
+one. After a while a male goldfinch appeared on the next tree, but he
+did not act in the least as if invited by her call. He seemed merely to
+be interested as any bird would be by her evident excitement. He watched
+her calmly, but did not offer to follow when at last she flew.</p>
+
+<p>Time, true to his reputation, was hurrying away even these sweet summer
+days, and still the love affairs of our little beauties seemed no nearer
+settlement than at first. In the opinion of impatient observers, their
+wooing was as long drawn out as that of Augustus and Araminta in an
+old-fashioned three-volume novel. Their manners, too, ludicrously
+suggested the behavior of the bigger pair; first he would follow her
+about, sing to her, parade himself, and show off; then she coquetted,
+and charmed him with her bewitching and altogether indescribable call,
+"sw-e-e-t." Then they were off in a whirl of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> excitement together,
+flitting hither and thither, singing and dancing through the air, life
+showing its rosiest hue.</p>
+
+<p>All things come to an end&mdash;in time. By the middle of the month the
+ecstasies of goldfinch youth were toned down, and the presence of dainty
+nests here and there proved that madam at least had settled to work,
+making preparation for her long, patient brooding.</p>
+
+<p>The tall grass in the meadow in front of the house was about this time
+laid low; nodding daisies,&mdash;white and yellow,&mdash;plumy meadow-grass and
+plain timothy, devil's paintbrush and soft purple grass flowers, alike
+lay in long rows dying on the ground. Delighted at last to possess the
+places so long tabooed to us by the heavy crop, my comrade and I went
+out the next morning on discoveries bent. The nook in which we rested
+after our walk&mdash;she on the fresh sweet hay in the broad sunshine, and I
+in the shade close by&mdash;offered a rare combination of seclusion with
+perfect security. It was within call from the veranda, yet completely
+hidden from it by a dense clump of evergreens.</p>
+
+<p>We had hardly settled ourselves when we noticed three lively goldfinches
+frolicking about the top of a tall maple-tree not far off. While we idly
+speculated about them, wondering if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> they had no mates, and if the
+goldfinches were not going to build this year, the eyes of my friend,
+who was lying on the ground, fell upon the nest. It was near the end of
+a lower branch of the maple, ten or twelve feet from the ground, and the
+little dame was at that moment working upon it. She was so deeply
+absorbed in her occupation that she did not even notice us, and we
+studied her movements with interest, till the haymakers came with wagon
+and oxen, and much talking and shouting, to gather up their fragrant
+loads, which on that side of the field stood in small stack's all ready.</p>
+
+<p>Once again, in spite of long experience, I was amazed to see how deaf
+and blind are people to what goes on about them. "We see only that which
+concerns us," says some one, and since the farmer, with whole mind bent
+upon making a firm and symmetrical load, did not concern himself with
+bird affairs, goldfinch work went on without hindrance. The half-loaded
+wagon paused under the chosen branch, where the man could have laid his
+hand upon the nest, but the small builder went in and out, calling and
+fluttering around as freely as if he were not there. As a matter of fact
+he was not, for though his body was near, he was down in the hay, and he
+never heard or saw the bird.</p>
+
+<p>We kept watch of the fateful branch, ready<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> to protect it if necessary,
+till the train moved off, and then we went home congratulating ourselves
+on possessing the goldfinch's precious secret, planning to spend a part
+of every morning in studying her ways.</p>
+
+<p>"Man proposes," but many things "dispose." The next morning revealed
+another tragedy. The dainty nest, so laboriously built, was found a
+wreck, the whole of one side pulled out and hanging over the branch,
+while the soft cushion of silky white thistle-down, an inch thick, lay
+on the grass below. The culprit we could not discover, for he had left
+no trace. It might be a squirrel; it certainly looked like the work of
+his strong claws; but, on the other hand, it might be the sparrow-hawk
+who had made the meadow his daily hunting-ground since the mysterious
+disaster to the kingbird's nest had deprived us of the police services
+of that vigilant bird. Probably a squirrel was the culprit, for the hawk
+appeared only after the grass was cut, and grasshoppers and other
+insects were left without shelter, and he seemed to give his entire
+attention to the grass at the foot of the flagpole on which he always
+perched.</p>
+
+<p>Whoever was guilty of the cruel deed, it added one more to the list of
+ravaged nests, and of all that we watched that summer exactly half had
+been broken up or destroyed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p><p>I am happy to say that the little pair were not utterly discouraged,
+for a day or two later we found the provident mistress carefully drawing
+out of the ruin some of the material she had woven into it, and carrying
+it away, doubtless to add to a fresh nest. But she had this time chosen
+a more secluded site, that we were unable to discover. I hope she did
+not credit us with her disaster.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was just after the catastrophe of the last chapter when a pair of
+goldfinches, whose pretty pastoral I hoped to watch, had been robbed and
+driven from their home in a maple-tree that the plum-tree romance began.
+Grieving for their sorrow as well as for my loss, I turned my steps
+toward the farmhouse, intending to devote part of the day to the baby
+crows, who were enlivening the pasture with their droll cries and
+droller actions. But the crow family had the pasture to themselves that
+morning, for in passing through the orchard, looking, as always, for
+indications of feathered life, I suddenly saw a new nest in the top of a
+plum-tree, and my spirits rose instantly when I noticed that the busy
+little architect, at that moment working upon it, was a goldfinch.</p>
+
+<p>What an unfortunate place she had chosen, was my first thought. A young
+tree, a mere sapling, not more than eight feet high, close beside the
+regular farm road, where men, and worse, two nest-robbing boys, passed
+forty times<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> a day. Would the trim little matron, now so happy in her
+plans, have any chance of bringing up a brood there in plain sight,
+where, if the roving eyes of those youngsters happened to fall upon her
+nest, peace would take its departure even if calamity did not overtake
+her?</p>
+
+<p>Looking all about, to make sure that no one was in sight, I seated
+myself to make the acquaintance of my new neighbor. My whole study of
+the life in and around the plum-tree, carried on for the next two weeks,
+was of a spasmodic order, for I had always to take care that no spies
+were about before I dared even look toward the orchard. One glimpse of
+me in the neighborhood would have disclosed their secret to the sharp
+boys who knew my ways.</p>
+
+<p>The little dame was bewitching in her manner, and her handsome young
+spouse the most devoted consort I ever saw in feathers, or out of them,
+I may say. Although she alone built the nest, he was her constant
+attendant, and they always made their appearance together. He dropped
+into a taller tree&mdash;an apple near by&mdash;while she, with her beak full of
+materials, alighted on the lowest branch of the plum, and hopped gayly
+from twig to twig, as though they were steps, up to the sky parlor where
+she had established her homestead. Then she went busily to work to
+adjust the new matter, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> he waited patiently during the ten or
+fifteen minutes she thus occupied. Sometimes he seemed to wonder what
+she could be about all this time, for he came and alighted beside her,
+staying only an instant, and then flying with the evident expectation
+that she would follow. Usually, however, he remained quietly on guard
+till she left the nest with her joyful call, when he joined her, and
+away they went together, crying, "te-o-tum, te! te!" till out of sight
+and hearing. There was a joyousness of manner in this pair that gave a
+festive air to even so prosaic a performance as going for food. The
+source of supplies, as I soon discovered, was a bit of neglected ground
+between a buckwheat patch and a barn, where grass and weeds of several
+sorts flourished. Here each bird pulled down by its weight a stalk of
+meadow or other grass, and spent some time feasting upon its seeds.</p>
+
+<p>But madam was a timid little soul; she reminded me constantly of some
+bigger folk I have known. She wanted her gay cavalier always within
+call, and he responded to her demands nobly, becoming more domestic than
+one would imagine possible for such a restless, light-hearted sprite.
+After the young house-mistress settled herself to her sitting, she often
+lifted her head above the edge of her nest, and uttered a strangely
+thrilling and appealing cry, which I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> think is only heard in the
+nesting-time. He always replied instantly, in tenderest tones, and came
+at once, sometimes from the other side of the orchard, singing as he
+flew, and perched in the apple-tree. If she wanted his escort to lunch,
+she joined him there, and after exchanging a few low remarks, they
+departed together. Occasionally, however, she seemed to be merely
+nervous, perhaps about some other bird who she fancied might be
+troublesome, though, in general, neither of the pair paid the slightest
+attention to birds who came about, even upon their own little tree.</p>
+
+<p>Often when the goldfinch came in answer to this call of his love, he
+flew around, at some height above the tree, in a circle of thirty or
+forty feet diameter, apparently to search out any enemy who might be
+annoying her. If he saw a bird, he drove him off, though in a
+perfunctory manner, as if it were done merely in deference to his lady's
+wishes, and not from any suspicion or jealousy. On these occasions, too,
+he came quite near me, stood fearless and calm, and studied me most
+sharply, doubtless to see if my intentions were innocent. Of course I
+looked as amiable and harmless as possible, and in a moment he decided
+that I was not dangerous, made some quiet remark to his fussy little
+partner, and flew away.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p><p>Sometimes this conduct did not reassure the uneasy bird, and she called
+again. Then he brought some tidbit in his beak, went to the edge of the
+nest, and fed her. Then she was pacified; but do not mistake her, it was
+not hunger that prompted her actions; when she was hungry, she openly
+left her nest and went for food. It was, as I am convinced, the longing
+desire to know that he was near her, that he was still anxious to serve
+her, that he had not forgotten her in her long absence from his side.
+This may sound a little fanciful to one who has not studied birds
+closely, but she was so "human" in all her actions that I feel justified
+in judging of her motives exactly as I should judge had she measured
+five feet instead of five inches, and worn silk instead of feathers.</p>
+
+<p>The goldfinch need not have worried about her mate, for he spent most of
+his time within a few feet of her, and more absolutely loyal one could
+not be. His most common perch was a neighboring tree, though in a heavy
+beating rain he frequently crouched on the lowest branch of the plum
+itself. Now and then he rested on a pile of boards beside the farm road
+already spoken of, and again he took his post on a very tall ash, with
+only a few limbs at the top, where his body looked like a dot against
+the blue, and he could oversee the whole country around.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> Wherever he
+might be, he sat all puffed out, silent and motionless, evidently just
+waiting. Sometimes he took occasion to plume himself very carefully,
+oftener he did nothing, but held himself in readiness to answer any call
+from the plum-tree, and to accompany the sitter out to dinner.</p>
+
+<p>This bird was an enchanting singer. During courtship, and while his mate
+was sitting, he often poured out a song that was nothing less than an
+ecstasy. It was delivered on the wing, and not in his usual wave-like
+manner of flight, but sailing slowly around and around, very much as a
+bobolink does, singing rapturously, without pause or break. The quality
+of the music, too, was strikingly like bobolink notes, and the whole
+performance was exquisite.</p>
+
+<p>The little sitter soon became accustomed to my presence. When out of her
+nest, she sometimes came to the tree over my head, and answered when I
+spoke to her. In this way we carried on quite a long conversation, I
+imitating, so far as I was able, her own charming "sweet," and she
+replying in varied utterances, which, alas! were Greek to me.</p>
+
+<p>I longed to watch the lovely and loving pair through their nesting; to
+see their rapture over their nestlings, their tender care and training,
+and the first flight of the goldfinch babies. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> the inexorable
+task-master of us all, who proverbially "waits for no man," hurried off
+these last precious days of July with painful eagerness, and thrust
+before me the first of August, with the hot and dusty journey set down
+for that day, long before I was ready for it.</p>
+
+<p>So I did not see the end of their love and labor myself, but the bird's
+wisdom in the selection of a site for her nursery was proved to be
+greater than mine, who had ventured to criticise her, by the fact that
+the nest, as I have been assured, escaped the young eyes of the
+neighborhood, and turned out its full complement of birdlings to add to
+next summer's beauty and song.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>SOLITARY THE THRUSH.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">"Solitary the thrush,</span><br />
+The hermit, withdrawn to himself,<br />
+Sings by himself a song."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Thus</span> says the poet, with no less truth than beauty. No description could
+better express the spirit of the bird, the retiring habit and the love
+of quiet for which not alone the hermit, but the three famous singers of
+the thrush family are remarkable. We should indeed be shocked were it
+otherwise, for there is an indefinable quality in the tones of this
+trio, the hermit, wood, and tawny, that stirs the soul to its depths,
+and one can hardly conceive of them as mingling their notes with other
+singers, or becoming in any way familiar. In this peculiar power no
+bird-voice in our part of the world can compare with theirs. The brown
+thrush ranks high as a musician, the mockingbird leads the world, in the
+opinion of its lovers, and the winter wren thrills one to the heart. Yet
+no bird song so moves the spirit, no other&mdash;it seems to me&mdash;so
+intoxicates its hearer with rapture, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> the solemn chant of "the hermit
+withdrawn to himself."</p>
+
+<p>"Whenever a man hears it," says our devoted lover of Nature, Thoreau,
+"he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it there is
+a new world, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him."</p>
+
+<p>One might quote pages of rhapsody from poets and prose writers, yet to
+him who has not drunk of the enchantment, they would be but words; they
+would touch no chord that had not already been thrilled by the marvelous
+strain itself.</p>
+
+<p>My first acquaintance in the beautiful family was the wood-thrush, and
+the study of his charms of voice and character filled me with love for
+the whole bird tribe. He frequented the places I also preferred, the
+quiet nooks and out of the way corners of a large city park. At that
+time I thought no bird note on earth could equal his; but a year or two
+later, on the shore of Lake George, I fell under the magical sway of
+another voice, whose few notes were exceedingly simple in arrangement,
+but full of the strangely thrilling power characteristic of the thrush
+family.</p>
+
+<p>Four years passed, at first in search of the owner of the "wandering
+voice" that had bewitched me, and when I had found it to be the tawny
+thrush or veery, in study of the attractive singer himself, which made
+me an enthusiastic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> lover of him also. But the "shy and hidden" bird,
+the hermit, enthroned by those who know him far above the others, I had
+rarely seen and never clearly heard. Far-off snatches I had gathered, a
+few of the louder notes had reached me from distant woods, or from far
+up the mountain side; but I had never been satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>There appeared almost a fatality about my hearing this bird. No matter
+how common his song in the neighborhood, no sooner did I go there than
+he retired to the secluded recesses of his choice. He always had "just
+been singing," but had mysteriously stopped. My search was much longer
+than, and quite as disappointing as Mr. Burroughs's search through
+English lanes for a singing nightingale.</p>
+
+<p>Last spring one of the strongest attractions that drew me to a lovely
+spot in Northern New York was the assurance that the hermit was a
+constant visitor. I went, and the same old story met me. Before this
+year the hermit had always been with them. The song of the veery was my
+morning and evening inspiration, but his shy brother had apparently
+taken his departure for parts unknown.</p>
+
+<p>"We will go to Sunset Hill," said my friend. "We always hear them there
+at sunset."</p>
+
+<p>That evening after an early tea, we started for the promised land. The
+single-file procession<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> through the charming wood paths consisted of our
+host as protector on the return in the dark, the big dog&mdash;his mistress's
+body-guard&mdash;his mistress, an enthusiastic bird-lover, and myself.</p>
+
+<p>The road was all the way through the woods, then lovely with the glow of
+the western sun, which reached far under the branches, gilded the trunks
+of the trees, and made a fresh picture at every turn. At the further
+side of the woods was a grass-covered hill which we ascended, eager to
+treat our eyes to the sunset, and our ears to the hermit songs. The sun
+went down serenely, without a cloud to reflect his glory, but the whole
+pleasant country at our feet was illuminated by his parting rays.</p>
+
+<p>And hark! a hermit began "air-o-ee!" Instantly everything else was
+forgotten, although the bird was far away.</p>
+
+<p>"He will come nearer," whispered my comrade, and we waited in silence.
+Several singers were within hearing, but all at a tantalizing remoteness
+that allowed us to hear the louder notes, and constantly to realize what
+we were losing.</p>
+
+<p>We lingered, loath to abandon hope, till the deepening shadows reminded
+us of the woods to be passed through; but no bird came nearer than that
+maddening distance. In despair we turned our faces homeward at last;
+several<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> times on the way we paused, lured by an ecstatic note, but
+every one too far off to be completely heard.</p>
+
+<p>In our quiet walk back through the dark woods I accepted my evident
+fate, that I was not to be blessed with hermit music this season; but I
+made a private resolve to find next year a "hermit neighborhood," where
+birds should be warranted to sing, if I had to take a tent and camp out
+in a swamp.</p>
+
+<p>June passed away in delightful bird-study, and July followed quickly.
+Nests and songs in plenty rewarded our search. Every day had been full.
+Nothing had been wanting to fill our cup of content, except the
+longed-for song of the hermit; and I had been so absorbed I had almost
+ceased to regret it.</p>
+
+<p>With the last days of July everything was changed about us. The world
+was full of bird babies. Infant voices rang out from every tangle;
+flutters of baby wings stirred every bush; the woods echoed to anxious
+"pips," and "smacks," and "quits," of uneasy parents working for dear
+life. We had been so occupied with our study of these charming
+youngsters, that we bethought ourselves, only as one after another
+strange warbler appeared upon the scene, that migrating time had
+arrived, the wonderful procession to the summer-land had begun.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p><p>This, alas! I could not stay to see. And if one must go, it were better
+to take leave before getting entangled in the toils of the warblers, to
+be driven wild by the numberless shades of yellow and olive, to go
+frantic over stripes and spots, and bars, and to wear out patience and
+the Manual, trying to discover what particular combination of Latin
+syllables scientists have bestowed upon this or that flitting atom in
+feathers. Before the student is out of bed, a new warbler-note will
+distract her; in the twilight some tiny bird will fly over her head with
+an unfamiliar twitter; each and every one will rouse her to eager desire
+to see it, to name it.</p>
+
+<p>Why have we such a rage for labeling and cataloguing the beautiful
+things of Nature? Why can I not delight in a bird or flower, knowing it
+by what it is to me, without longing to know what it has been to some
+other person? What pleasure can it afford to one not making a scientific
+study of birds to see such names as "the blue and yellow-throated
+warbler," "the chestnut-headed golden warbler," "the yellow-bellied,
+red-poll warbler," attached to the smallest and daintiest beauties of
+the woods?</p>
+
+<p>Musing upon this and other mysteries, I followed my friend up the
+familiar paths one day, looking for some young birds whose strange cries
+we had noted. It was a gray morning, and all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> the tree trunks were grim
+and dark, with no variety in coloring. The sounds we were following led
+us through some unused roads entirely grown up with jewel-weed, part of
+it five feet high, and thickly hung with the yellow flower from which it
+takes its name.</p>
+
+<p>It had rained in the night, and every leaf was adorned with minute drops
+like gems. We parted the stems carefully and passed through, though it
+seemed to us like wading in deep water, and, in spite of our caution, we
+were well sprinkled from the dripping leaves. Just as we stepped out of
+our green sea, the low calls we were trying to locate ceased. We walked
+slowly on until we were attracted by a rustling in the dry leaves, and
+then we turned to see two young thrushes foraging about in silence by
+themselves. They were not very shy, but looked at us with innocent baby
+eyes as we drew near and examined them. We saw the color and the
+markings and the peculiar movement of the tail characteristic of the
+hermit. There could be no doubt that these were hermit babies. We were
+delighted to see them. I never feel that I know a bird family till I
+have seen the young. But my pleasure was sadly marred by the reflection
+that where there were babies must have been a nest and a singer, and we
+had not heard his voice.</p>
+
+<p>The last Sunday of my stay came, all too soon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> It was a glorious day,
+and, as usual, the two bird-lovers turned their steps toward the woods.
+Everything seemed at rest and silent. We paused a while in a part of the
+forest in which we had seen some strange phases of bird life, and had
+christened the "Bewitched Corner." A gentle breeze set all the leaves to
+fluttering; far off a woodpecker drummed his salute to his fellows;
+beyond the trees we could hear the indigo bird singing; but nothing
+about us was stirring. The wood-pewee was unheard, and even the vireo
+seemed to have finished his endless song and gone his way.</p>
+
+<p>We passed on a few rods to a favorite resting place of our daily rounds,
+where my comrade always liked to stretch herself upon the big bole of a
+fallen tree in the broad sunshine, and I to seat myself at the foot of
+another tree in the shade. It was a spot</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;">"where hours went their way</span><br />
+As softly as sweet dreams go down the night."<br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>As we approached this place a sound reached us that struck us dumb; it
+was a hermit thrush not far off. Silently we stole up the gentle hill
+and seated ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>"At last! at last!" I cried in my heart, as I leaned back against my
+tree to listen.</p>
+
+<p>Then the glorious anthem began again; it rose and swelled upon the air;
+it filled the woods,&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><p class="noin">
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>"And up by mystical chords of song<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The soul was lifted from care and pain."</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>Though not in sight, the bird was quite near, so that we heard every
+note, so enchanting! so inimitable! For ten or fifteen minutes he poured
+out the melody, while our hearts fairly stood still. Then he stopped,
+and we heard the thrush "chuck" and the hermit call, which is different
+from other thrushes, being something between a squawk and a mew. Whether
+this were his conversation with his mate we could only guess, for we
+dared not move, hardly indeed to breathe.</p>
+
+<p>After a pause the bird began again, and for one perfect hour we sat
+there motionless, entranced, and took our fill of his matchless
+rhapsody. I longed inexpressibly to see the enchanter, though I dared
+not stir for fear of startling him. Perhaps my urgent desire drew him;
+at any rate he came at last within sight, stood a few minutes on the low
+branch of a tree and looked at me, lifting and dropping his expressive
+tail as he did so. Two or three low, rich notes bubbled out, as if he
+had half a mind to sing to me; but he thought better of it and dived off
+the branch into the bushes. We rose to go.</p>
+
+<p>"This only was lacking," I said. "This crowns my summer. I ask no more,
+and tomorrow I go."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="index"><p class="noin">
+American Goldfinch:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bewitching manners, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">devotion of the male, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">difficulty of watching, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nervous sitter, a, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, a second, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">neat building, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nesting ways, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">queer scenes, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">talk with me, a, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tragedy again, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wooing, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Black and White creeper, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Black-throated Blue Warbler:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">delight in nest, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hard to study, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest and mate, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">studies me, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vain search for, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Bluejay, the young, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance of, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">food as bait, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">interest of neighbors, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not afraid, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">old birds to the rescue, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">stray youngster, a, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Bobolink, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attack, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cries, strange, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">disturbed, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musical call, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wiles, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Cedar Birds, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Chestnut-sided Warbler, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">adopted infant, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Chipping Sparrow, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Crow, the parents, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two sides to the question, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the young, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">alighting, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">coaxing ways, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cry, a strange, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">efforts to learn, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">experimenting in food, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">object lesson, an, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Cuckoo, the Black Billed, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">curious performance, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">male, the, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mother tactics, the, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest deserted, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">relieving the sitter, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sitting bird, the, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">struck dumb, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ventriloquism, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Curiosity of Birds, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Golden-winged Woodpecker, or Flicker:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cry of young, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feeding, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flight of young, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest deserted, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparing to leave, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">setting house in order, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">teaching the young, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ventriloquism, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young appear, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Gray Squirrel:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cry of, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">poacher, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Great-crested Fly-catcher, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Hermit Thrush, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">search for, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shyness of, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">voice, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Humming Bird as poacher, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Insects, destruction of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Junco, nest, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Kingbird:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bathing, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">character, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">curious antics, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distinguishing marks, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English sparrow annoyance, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feeding, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">greeting to mate, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest of, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nesting habits, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">night perch, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">oriole encounter, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparing to sit, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">robin encounter, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sitting, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of young robin, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young out, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Kingbird, the young:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appearance above the nest, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attachment to each other, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dress of, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first flight, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first night out of nest, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">last view, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaving the nest, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">migrating cry, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preparing for flight, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of strangers, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">vireo impertinence, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">voice, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Mephitis Family, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Oven Bird, Golden Crowned Thrush:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident to nest, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">good sense of, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Partridge, a sitting, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Ph&#339;be, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strange performance, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Red-headed Woodpecker, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after berries, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comical attitudes, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feeding on the ground, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fly-catching, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">frolics of young, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">greeting to mate, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">insulted by robin, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the raspberries, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">poaching, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">robin surveillance, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">settling with the robin, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Redstart<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and chestnut-sided warbler, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">caution of, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">curiosity, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hostility, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in rain, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nesting habits, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">out of nest, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">out of shell, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treatment of young, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young identified, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Red Squirrel, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Robin, a saucy, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">morning song, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on guard, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">special policeman, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subdued, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">surveillance, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes a hint, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Rose-breasted Grosbeak, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Scarlet Tanager:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bathing, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">shyness, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Song Sparrow, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Sparrow Hawk, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Towhee Bunting, young, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Veery, Wilson's Thrush:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bleating cry, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">calls and cries, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cry of young, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">description of young, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">distress of parents, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">empty nest, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendliness, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humorist, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mother, the, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest destroyed, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest seeking, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nests found, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">solitude, love of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Warbler life, problems in, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wood-pewee, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Wood-thrush, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, or Sapsucker, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">drumming habit, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">food habits, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">frolics, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nest, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">traps, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">voice, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">young, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Young Birds:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">black-throated blue warbler, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bluebird, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brown thrush, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chestnut-sided warbler, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crow, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">crow blackbird, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cuckoo, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">downy woodpecker, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">hermit thrush, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in rain, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">kingbird, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">learning to flock, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">other young birds, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">out, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">red-headed woodpecker, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scarlet tanager, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">swallow, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">towhee bunting, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">veery, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wilson's thrush, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">woodpecker, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wood-pewee, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">yellow-bellied woodpecker, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><div class="books">
+<h2><a name="OUT-DOOR_BOOKS" id="OUT-DOOR_BOOKS"></a>OUT-DOOR BOOKS</h2>
+
+<p class="center">Selected from the Publications of</p>
+
+<p class="t3">Houghton, Mifflin and Company,</p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>4 Park St., Boston; 11 East 17th St., New York.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Adirondack Stories.</span> By <span class="smcap">P. Deming</span>. 18mo, 75 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">A-Hunting of the Deer;</span> How I Killed a Bear; Lost in the Woods; Camping
+Out; A Wilderness Romance; What Some People call Pleasure. By <span class="smcap">Charles
+Dudley Warner</span>. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The American Horsewoman.</span> By <span class="smcap">Elizabeth Karr</span>. Illustrated. New Edition.
+16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.</span> By <span class="smcap">Henry D. Thoreau</span>. 12mo,
+gilt top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Birds and Bees.</span> By <span class="smcap">John Burroughs</span>. With an Introduction by <span class="smcap">Mary E. Burt</span>,
+of Chicago. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Birds and Poets, with Other Papers.</span> By <span class="smcap">John Burroughs</span>. 16mo, gilt top,
+$1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Birds in the Bush.</span> By <span class="smcap">Bradford Torrey</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Birds through an Opera-Glass.</span> By <span class="smcap">Florence A. Merriam</span>. In Riverside
+Library for Young People. 16mo, 75 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Bird-Ways.</span> By <span class="smcap">Olive Thorne Miller</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Cape Cod.</span> By <span class="smcap">Henry D. Thoreau</span>. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Country By-Ways.</span> By <span class="smcap">Sarah Orne Jewett</span>. 18mo, gilt top, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Drift-Weed. Poems.</span> By <span class="smcap">Celia Thaxter</span>. 18mo, full gilt, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Early, Spring in Massachusetts.</span> Selections from the Journals of <span class="smcap">Henry D.
+Thoreau</span>. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Excursions in Field and Forest.</span> By <span class="smcap">Henry D. Thoreau</span>. 12mo, gilt top,
+$1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle"><span class="smcap">Contents</span>: Biographical Sketch</span>, by R.W. Emerson; Natural History of
+Massachusetts; A Walk to Wachusett; The Landlord; A Winter Walk; The
+Succession of Forest Trees; Walking; Autumnal Tints; Wild Apples; Night
+and Moonlight.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Favorite Flies.</span> By <span class="smcap">Mary Orvis Marbury</span>. With colored plates. Square 8vo.
+(<i>In Press</i>).</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Fishing with the Fly.</span> A volume of original Essays on Angling. By Lovers
+of the Art. Edited by <span class="smcap">Charles F. Orvis</span> and <span class="smcap">A. Nelson Cheney</span>. With
+colored Plates of 149 standard varieties of Flies. With Map and Index.
+Crown 8vo, $2.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Fresh Fields.</span> English Sketches. By <span class="smcap">John Burroughs</span>. 16mo, gilt top,
+$1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The Gypsies.</span> By <span class="smcap">Charles G. Leland</span>. With Sketches of the English, Welsh,
+Russian, and Austrian Romany; and papers on the Gypsy Language. Crown
+8vo, $2.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Homestead Highways.</span> By <span class="smcap">H.M. Sylvester</span>. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">In Nesting Time.</span> By <span class="smcap">Olive Thorne Miller</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">In the Wilderness.</span> Adirondack Essays. By <span class="smcap">Charles Dudley Warner</span>. New
+Edition, enlarged. 18mo $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Land of the Lingering Snow.</span> Chronicles of a Stroller in New England from
+January to June. By <span class="smcap">Frank Bolles</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Little Brothers of the Air.</span> By <span class="smcap">Olive Thorne Miller</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Locusts and Wild Honey.</span> By <span class="smcap">John Burroughs</span>. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The Maine Woods.</span> By <span class="smcap">Henry D. Thoreau</span>. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">My Garden Acquaintance and a Moosehead Journal.</span> By <span class="smcap">James Russell Lowell</span>.
+Illustrated. 32mo, 75 cents. <i>School Edition</i>, 40 cents, <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">My Summer in a Garden.</span> By <span class="smcap">Charles Dudley Warner</span>. 16mo, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Nantucket Scraps.</span> Being the Experiences of an Off-Islander, in Season
+and out of Season. By <span class="smcap">Jane G. Austin</span>. 16mo, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Nature.</span> "Little Classics," Vol. XVI. 18mo, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Nature, together with Love, Friendship, Domestic Life, Success,
+Greatness, and Immortality.</span> By <span class="smcap">R.W. Emerson</span>. 32mo, 75 cents; <i>School
+Edition</i>, 40 cents, <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">On Horseback.</span> A Tour in Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. With
+Notes on Travel in Mexico and California. By <span class="smcap">Charles Dudley Warner</span>.
+16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Pepacton.</span> By <span class="smcap">John Burroughs</span>. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Poems.</span> By <span class="smcap">Celia Thaxter</span>. 18mo, full gilt, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Poetic Interpretation of Nature.</span> By Principal <span class="smcap">J.C. Shairp</span>. 16mo, gilt
+top, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Prose Pastorals.</span> By <span class="smcap">Herbert M. Sylvester</span>. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">A Rambler's Lease.</span> By <span class="smcap">Bradford Torrey</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The Rescue of an Old Place.</span> By <span class="smcap">Mary Caroline Robbins</span>. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The Round Year.</span> By <span class="smcap">Edith M. Thomas</span>. Prose Papers. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Rural Hours.</span> By <span class="smcap">Susan Fenimore Cooper</span>. New Edition, abridged. 16mo,
+$1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The Saunterer.</span> By <span class="smcap">Charles G. Whiting</span>. Essays on Nature. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Seaside Studies in Natural History.</span> By <span class="smcap">Alexander Agassiz</span> and <span class="smcap">Elizabeth
+C. Agassiz</span>. Illustrated. 8vo, $3.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Sharp Eyes, A Taste of Maine Birch, The Apple, and other Essays.</span> By <span class="smcap">John
+Burroughs</span>. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The Shaybacks in Camp.</span> Ten Summers under Canvas. By <span class="smcap">Samuel J.</span> and <span class="smcap">Isabel
+C. Barrows</span>. With Map of Lake Memphremagog. 16mo, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">The Succession of Forest Trees, etc.</span> By <span class="smcap">H. D. Thoreau</span>. With Biographical
+Sketch by <span class="smcap">R.W. Emerson</span>. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, <i>net</i>.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Summer.</span> Selections from the Journals of <span class="smcap">H.D. Thoreau</span>. With Map of
+Concord. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Tenting at Stony Beach.</span> By <span class="smcap">Maria Louise Pool</span>. 16mo, $1.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Up and Down the Brooks.</span> By <span class="smcap">Mary E. Bamford</span>. In Riverside Library for
+Young People. 16mo, 75 cents.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Wake-Robin.</span> By <span class="smcap">John Burroughs</span>. Revised and enlarged edition.
+Illustrated. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Walden; or, Life in the Woods.</span> By <span class="smcap">Henry D. Thoreau</span>. 12mo, gilt top,
+$1.50. <i>Riverside Aldine Edition.</i> 2 vols. 16mo, $2.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Winter.</span> From the Journal of Thoreau. Edited by <span class="smcap">H.G.O. Blake</span>. 12mo, gilt
+top, $1.50.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Winter Sunshine. </span>By <span class="smcap">John Burroughs</span>. New edition, revised and enlarged.
+With Frontispiece. 16mo, $1.25.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging"><span class="booktitle">Woods and Lakes of Maine.</span> A Trip from Moosehead Lake to New Brunswick in
+a Birch-Bark Canoe. By <span class="smcap">Lucius L. Hubbard</span>. With Indian Place-Names and
+their Meanings, Illustrations, and large Map. 8vo, $3.00.</p>
+
+
+<p><big>&#8258;</big> <i>For sale by all Booksellers. Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of
+price by the Publishers</i>,</p>
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+<p class="t3">HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN &amp; CO.</p>
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+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">4 Pare St., Boston; 11 East 17th St., New York.</span></p></div>
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+Project Gutenberg's Little Brothers of the Air, by Olive Thorne Miller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Little Brothers of the Air
+
+Author: Olive Thorne Miller
+
+Release Date: November 16, 2008 [EBook #27277]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  By Olive Thorne Miller.
+
+  BIRD-WAYS. 16mo, $1.25.
+
+  IN NESTING TIME. 16mo, $1.25.
+
+  LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR. $1.25.
+
+  HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
+  BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+  LITTLE BROTHERS OF
+  THE AIR
+
+  BY
+
+  OLIVE THORNE MILLER
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  BOSTON AND NEW YORK
+  HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
+  The Riverside Press, Cambridge
+  1893
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1892,
+  BY H.M. MILLER.
+
+  _All rights reserved._
+
+  _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._
+  Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton & Company.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+Some of the chapters of this little book were written in 1888, on the
+shore of the Great South Bay, Long Island; others in the northern part
+of New York State, known to its residents as the "Black River Country,"
+a year or two later. Part of them have been published in The Atlantic
+Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, The Independent and other papers.
+
+The nomenclature in the Table of Contents is that adopted by the
+American Ornithological Society.
+
+OLIVE THORNE MILLER.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY.
+
+                                                         PAGE
+
+  I. THE KINGBIRD'S NEST                                    1
+
+    Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._
+
+  II. A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS                    19
+
+    Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._
+
+  III. THE BABES IN THE WOOD                               34
+
+    Flicker. _Colaptes auratus._
+
+  IV. HOME LIFE OF THE REDSTART                            48
+
+    American Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._
+
+  V. WHEN NESTING IS OVER                                  61
+
+    Thrasher. _Harporhynchus rufus._
+
+    White-bellied Swallow. _Tachycineta bicolor._
+
+    Wood Pewee. _Contopus virens._
+
+    Bluebird. _Sialia sialis._
+
+  VI. IN SEARCH OF THE BLUEJAY                             76
+
+    Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._
+
+  VII. IN THE WOOD LOT                                     83
+
+    Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._
+
+  VIII. THE BLUEJAY BABY                                   89
+
+    Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._
+
+
+  IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY.
+
+  IX. THAT WITCHING SONG                                   99
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  X. THE VEERY MOTHER                                     107
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  XI. THE TAWNY THRUSH'S BROOD                            114
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  XII. A MEADOW NEST                                      123
+
+    Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._
+
+  XIII. A JUNE ROUND OF CALLS                             130
+
+    Wood Pewee. _Contopus virens._
+
+    Junco. _Junco hyemalis._
+
+    Flicker. _Colaptes auratus._
+
+    Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._
+
+    Sapsucker. _Sphyrapicus varius._
+
+  XIV. A BOBOLINK RHAPSODY                                138
+
+    Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
+
+  XV. THE BOBOLINK'S NEST                                 146
+
+    Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
+
+  XVI. THE TANAGER'S NEST                                 155
+
+    Scarlet Tanager. _Piranga erythromelas._
+
+  XVII. THE WILES OF A WARBLER                            163
+
+    Black-throated Blue. _Dendroica coerulescens._
+
+  XVIII. A RAINY-DAY TRAMP                                173
+
+    Oven-bird. _Seiurus aurocapillus._
+
+  XIX. THE VAGARIES OF A WARBLER                          180
+
+    Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._
+
+    Chestnut-sided W. _Dendroica pensylvanica._
+
+  XX. A CLEVER CUCKOO                                     190
+
+    Black-billed C. _Coccyzus erythrophthalmus._
+
+  XXI. TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS                                201
+
+    Sapsucker. _Sphyrapicus varius._
+
+    Red-headed Woodpecker. _Melanerpes erythrocephalus._
+
+  XXII. FROM MY WINDOW                                    221
+
+    Phoebe. _Sayornis phoebe._
+
+    Robin. _Merula migratoria._
+
+    Great-crested Fly-catcher. _Myiarchus crinitus._
+
+    Purple Grackle. _Quiscalus quiscula._
+
+    Downy Woodpecker. _Dryobates pubescens._
+
+    Chestnut-sided Warbler. _Dendroica pensylvanica._
+
+    Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._
+
+  XXIII. THE COMICAL CROW BABY                            236
+
+    Common Crow. _Corvus americanus._
+
+  XXIV. A MIDSUMMER WOOING                                244
+
+    American Goldfinch. _Spinus tristis._
+
+  XXV. A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE                                252
+
+    American Goldfinch. _Spinus tristis._
+
+  XXVI. SOLITARY THE THRUSH                               259
+
+    Hermit Thrush. _Turdus aonalaschkoe pallasii._
+
+  INDEX                                                   269
+
+
+
+
+ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY.
+
+
+
+
+  Precious qualities of silence haunt
+  Round these vast margins ministrant.
+
+  'T is here, 't is here, thou canst unhand thy heart
+  And breathe it free, and breathe it free
+  By rangy marsh, in lone sea-liberty.
+
+  SIDNEY LANIER.
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE KINGBIRD'S NEST.
+
+
+To study a nest is to make an acquaintance. However familiar the bird,
+unless the student has watched its ways during the only domestic period
+of its life,--nesting time,--he has still something to learn. In fact,
+he has almost everything to learn, for into those few weeks is crowded a
+whole lifetime of emotions and experiences which fully bring out the
+individuality of the bird. Family life is a test of character, no less
+in the nest than in the house. Moreover, to a devotee of the science
+that some one has aptly called Ornithography, nothing is so attractive.
+What hopes it holds out! Who can guess what mysteries shall be
+disclosed, what interesting episodes of life shall be seen about that
+charmed spot?
+
+To find a newly built nest is the first June work of the bird-student,
+and this year on the Great South Bay a particularly inviting one
+presented itself, on the top branch of a tall oak-tree near my "inn of
+rest." It was in plain sight from the veranda. The builder evidently
+cared nothing for concealment, and relied, with reason, upon its
+inaccessible position for safety. To be sure, as days went by and oak
+leaves grew, a fair screen for the little dwelling was not lacking; but
+summer breezes were kind, and often blew them aside, and, better still,
+from other points of view the nest was never hidden.
+
+To whom, then, did the nest belong? I hoped to the kingbird, who at that
+moment sat demurely upon the picket fence below, apparently interested
+only in passing insects; and while I looked the question was answered by
+Madame Tyrannis herself, who came with the confidence of ownership,
+carrying a beakful of building material, and arranging it with great
+pains inside the structure. This was satisfactory, for I did not know
+the kingbird in domestic life.
+
+For several days it seemed uncertain whether the kingbirds would ever
+really occupy the nest, so spasmodic was the work upon it. Now one of
+the pair came with a bit of something, placed it, tried its effect this
+way and that, and then disappeared; while for hours every day both might
+be seen about the place, hunting insects and taking their ease on the
+fence as if no thought of nesting ever stirred their wise little heads.
+The last addition to the domicile was curious: a soft white feather from
+the poultry yard, which was fastened up on the edge, and stood there
+floating in the breeze; a white banner of peace flung out to the world
+from her castle walls.
+
+Peace from a kingbird? Direful tales are told of this bird: "he is
+pugnacious," says one writer; "he fights everybody," adds another; "he
+is a coward," remarks a third. Science has dubbed him tyrant
+(_Tyrannis_), and his character is supposed to be settled. But may there
+not be two sides to the story? We shall see. One kingbird, at least,
+shall be studied sympathetically; we shall try to enter his life, to
+judge him fairly, and shall above all
+
+                         "bring not
+  The fancies found in books,
+  Leave author's eyes, and fetch our own."
+
+Nearly two months that small dwelling on the oak was watched, day after
+day, early and late, in storm and in sunshine; now I know at least one
+family of kingbirds, and what I know I shall honestly tell, "nothing
+extenuating."
+
+The house was built, the season was passing, yet housekeeping did not
+begin. The birds, indeed, appeared to have abandoned the tree, and days
+went by in which I could not see that either visited it. But the nest
+was not deserted, for all that; the curiosity and impertinence of the
+neighbors were simply amazing. (Perhaps the kingbird has some reason to
+be pugnacious!) No sooner was that tenement finished than, as promptly
+as if they had received cards to a house-warming, visitors began to
+come. First to show himself was an orchard oriole, who was in the habit
+of passing over the yard every day and stopping an hour or more in the
+neighborhood, while he scrambled over the trees, varying his lunches
+with a rich and graceful song. Arrived this morning in the kingbird
+tree, he began his usual hunt over the top branch, when suddenly his eye
+fell upon the kingbird cradle. He paused, cast a wary glance about, then
+dropped to a lower perch, his singing ended, his manner guilty. Nearer
+and nearer he drew, looking cautiously about and moving in perfect
+silence. Still the owner did not come, and at last the stranger stood
+upon the edge. What joy! He looked that mansion over from foundation to
+banner fluttering in the wind; he examined closely its construction;
+with head turned over one side, he criticised its general effect, and
+apparently did not think much of it; he gratified to the full his
+curiosity, and after about one minute's study flew to the next tree, and
+resumed his singing.
+
+The next arrival was a pewee, whose own nest was nearly built, in a
+wild-cherry tree not far off. The fence under the oak was his usual
+perch, and it was plain that he made his first call with "malice
+aforethought;" for, disdaining the smallest pretense of interest in it,
+he flew directly to the nest, hovered beneath it, and pulled out some
+part of the building material that pleased his fancy,--nothing less than
+pure thievery.
+
+Among the occasional visitors to the yard were two American goldfinches,
+or thistle-birds, in bright yellow and black plumage, both males. They
+also went to the new homestead in the oak, inspected it, chatted over it
+in their sweet tones, and then passed on. It began to look as though the
+nest were in the market for any one to choose, and the string of company
+was not yet ended.
+
+Soon after the goldfinches had passed by, there alighted a gay Baltimore
+oriole, who, not content with looking at the new castle in the air, must
+needs try it. He actually stepped into the nest and settled down as if
+sitting. Who knows but he was experimenting to see if this simple,
+wide-open cradle wouldn't do as well for oriole babies as for kingbirds?
+Certainly it was a curious performance. It made an impression on him
+too, for the next day he came again; and this time he picked at it, and
+seemed to be changing its interior arrangement, but he carried nothing
+away when he flew. Even after sitting began, this oriole paid two more
+visits to the nest which so interested him. On the first occasion, the
+owner was at home, and gave him instant notice that the place was no
+longer on view. He retired, but, being no coward, and not choosing to
+submit to dictation, he came again. This time, a fly-up together, a
+clinch in the air, with loud and offensive remarks, cured him of further
+desire to call.
+
+More persistent than any yet mentioned was a robin. Heretofore, strange
+to say, the guests had all been males, but this caller was the mother of
+a young brood in the next yard. She came in her usual way, alighted on a
+low branch, ran out upon it, hopped to the next higher, and so proceeded
+till she reached the nest. The kingbird happened to be near it himself,
+and drove her away in an indifferent manner, as if this interloper were
+of small account. The robin went, of course, but returned, and, perching
+close to the object of interest, leaned over and looked at it as long as
+she chose, while the owner stood calmly by on a twig and did not
+interfere. I know he was not afraid of the robin, as later events
+proved; and it really looked as if the pair deliberately delayed sitting
+to give the neighborhood a chance to satisfy its curiosity; as if they
+thus proclaimed to whom it might concern that there was to be a kingbird
+household, that they might view it at their leisure before it was
+occupied, but after that no guests were desired. Whatever the cause, the
+fact is, that once completed, the nest was almost entirely abandoned by
+the builders for several days, during which this neighborhood inspection
+went on. They even deserted their usual hunting-ground, and might
+generally be seen at the back of the house, awaiting their prey in the
+most unconcerned manner.
+
+However, time was passing, and one day Madame Tyrannis herself began to
+call, but fitfully. Sometimes she stayed about the nest one minute,
+sometimes five minutes, but was restless; picking at the walls,
+twitching the leaves that hung too near, rearranging the lining, trying
+it this way and that, as if to see how it fitted her figure, and how she
+should like it when she was settled. First she tried sitting with face
+looking toward the bay; then she jerked herself around, without rising,
+and looked awhile toward the house. She had as much trouble to get
+matters adjusted to her mind as if she had a houseful of furniture to
+place, with carpets to lay, curtains to hang, and the thousand and one
+"things" with which we bigger housekeepers cumber ourselves and make
+life a burden. This spasmodic visitation went on for days, and finally
+it was plain that sitting had begun. Still the birds of the vicinity
+were interested callers, and I began to think that one kingbird would
+not even protect his nest, far less justify his reputation by
+tyrannizing over the feathered world. But when his mate had seriously
+established herself, it was time for the head of the household to assume
+her defense, and he did.
+
+As usual, the kingbird united the characters of brave defender and
+tender lover. To his spouse his manners were charming. When he came to
+relieve her of her care, to give her exercise or a chance for luncheon,
+he greeted her with a few low notes, and alighted on a small leafless
+twig that curved up about a foot above the nest, and made a perfect
+watch-tower. She slipped off her seat and disappeared for about six
+minutes. During her absence he stayed at his post, sometimes changing
+his perch to one or other of half a dozen leafless branchlets in that
+part of the tree, and there sitting, silent and watchful, ready to
+interview any stranger who appeared. Upon her return he again saluted
+her with a few words, adding to them a lifting of wings and spreading of
+his beautiful tail that most comically suggested the bowing and
+hat-lifting of bigger gentlemen. In all their life together, even when
+the demands of three infants kept them busy from morning till night, he
+never forgot this little civility to his helpmate. If she alighted
+beside him on the fence, he rose a few inches above his perch, and flew
+around in a small circle while greeting her; and sometimes, on her
+return to the nest, he described a larger circle, talking (as I must
+call it) all the time. Occasionally, when she approached, he flew out to
+meet and come back with her, as if to escort her. Could this bird, to
+his mate so thoughtful and polite, be to the rest of the world the bully
+he is pictured? Did he, who for ten months of the year shows less
+curiosity about others, and attends more perfectly to his own business
+than any bird I have noticed, suddenly, at this crisis in his life,
+become aggressive, and during these two months of love and paternity and
+hard work, make war upon a peaceful neighborhood?
+
+I watched closely. There was not an hour of the day, often from four
+A.M. to eight P.M., that I had not the kingbird and his nest directly in
+sight, and hardly a movement of his life escaped me. There he stood, on
+the fence under his tree, on a dead bush at the edge of the bay, or on
+the lowest limb of a small pear-tree in the yard. Sometimes he dashed
+into the air for his prey; sometimes he dropped to the ground to secure
+it; but oftenest, especially when baby throats grew clamorous, he
+hovered over the rank grass on the low land of the shore, wings beating,
+tail wide spread, diving now and then for an instant to snatch a morsel;
+and every thirty minutes, as punctually as if he carried a watch in his
+trim white vest, he took a direct line for the home where his mate sat
+waiting.
+
+A few days after the little dame took possession of the nest, the
+kingbird had succeeded, without much trouble, in making most of his
+fellow-creatures understand that he laid claim to the upper branches of
+the oak, and was prepared to defend them against all comers, and they
+simply gave the tree a wide berth in passing.
+
+Apparently deceived by his former indifference, however, the robin above
+mentioned presumed to call somewhat later. This time she was received in
+a manner that plainly showed she was no longer welcome. She retired, but
+she expressed her mind freely for some time, sitting on the fence below.
+With true robin persistence she did not give it up, and she selected for
+her next call the dusk of evening, just before going to bed.
+
+This time both kingbirds flung themselves after her, and she left,
+"laughing" as she went. The kingbirds did not follow beyond their own
+borders, and the robin soon returned to the nearest tree, where she
+kept up the taunting "he! he! he!" a long time, seemingly with
+deliberate intention to insult or enrage her pursuers, but without
+success; for unless she came to their tree, the kingbirds paid her not
+the slightest attention.
+
+The last time the robin tried to be on friendly terms with her neighbor,
+I noticed her standing near him on the picket fence under his tree.
+There were not more than three pickets between them, and she was
+expostulating earnestly, with flirting tail and jerking wings, and with
+loud "tut! tut's," and "he! he's!" she managed to be very eloquent. Had
+he driven her from his nest? and was she complaining? I could only
+guess. The kingbird did not reply to her, but when she flew he followed,
+and she did not cease telling him what she thought of him as she flew,
+till out of sight.
+
+Strangest of all was the fact that, during the whole of this scene, her
+mate stood on the fence within a dozen feet, and looked on! Did he think
+her capable of managing her own affairs? Did he prefer to be on good
+terms with his peppery neighbor? or was it because with her it would be
+a war of words, while if he entered the arena it must be a fight? as we
+sometimes see, when a man goes home fighting drunk, every man of the
+neighborhood keeps out of sight, while all the women go out and help
+his wife to get him home. The most troublesome meddler was, as might be
+expected, an English sparrow. From the time when the first stick was
+laid till the babies were grown and had left the tree, that bird never
+ceased to intrude and annoy. He visited the nest when empty; he managed
+to have frequent peeps at the young; and notwithstanding he was driven
+off every time, he still hung around, with prying ways so exasperating
+that he well deserved a thrashing, and I wonder he did not get it. He
+was driven away repeatedly, and he was "picked off" from below, and
+pounced upon from above, but he never failed to return.
+
+Another visitor of whom the kingbird seemed suspicious was a purple crow
+blackbird, who every day passed over. This bird and the common crow were
+the only ones he drove away without waiting for them to alight; and if
+half that is told of them be true, he had reason to do so.
+
+With none of these intruders had the kingbird any quarrel when away from
+his nest. The blackbird, to whom he showed the most violence, hunted
+peacefully beside him on the grass all day; the robin alighted near him
+on the fence, as usual; the orioles scrambled over the neighboring
+trees, singing, and eating, as was their custom; even the English
+sparrow carried on his vulgar squabbles on his own branch of the oak all
+day; but to none of them did the kingbird pay the slightest attention.
+He simply and solely defended his own household.
+
+In the beginning the little dame took sitting very easy, fidgeting about
+in the nest, standing up to dress her feathers, stretching her neck to
+see what went on in the yard below, and stepping out upon a neighboring
+twig to rest herself. After a few days she settled more seriously to
+work, and became very quiet and patient. Her mate never brought food to
+her, nor did he once take her place in the nest; not even during a
+furious northeast gale that turned June into November, and lasted
+thirty-six hours, most of the time with heavy rain, when the top branch
+bent and tossed, and threatened every moment a catastrophe. In the
+house, fires were built and books and work brought out; but the
+bird-student, wrapped in heavy shawls, kept close watch from an open
+window, and noted well the bad-weather manners of Tyrannis. Madame sat
+very close, head to the northeast, and tail, narrowed to the width of
+one feather, pressed against a twig that grew up behind the nest. All
+through the storm, I think the head of the family remained in a
+sheltered part of the tree, but he did not come to the usual twigs which
+were so exposed. I know he was near, for I heard him, and occasionally
+saw him standing with body horizontal instead of upright, as usual, the
+better to maintain his position against the wind. At about the ordinary
+intervals the sitter left her nest, without so much as a leaf to cover
+it, and was absent perhaps half as long as common, but not once did her
+mate assume her post.
+
+How were this pair distinguished from each other, since there is no
+difference in their dress? First, by a fortunate peculiarity of marking;
+the male had one short tail feather, that, when he was resting, showed
+its white tip above the others, and made a perfectly distinct and (with
+a glass) plainly visible mark. Later, when I had become familiar with
+the very different manners of the pair, I did not need this mark to
+distinguish the male, though it remained _en evidence_ all through the
+two months I had them under observation.
+
+During the period of sitting, life went on with great regularity. The
+protector of the nest perched every night in a poplar-tree across the
+yard, and promptly at half past four o'clock every morning began his
+matins. Surprised and interested by an unfamiliar song, I rose one day
+at that unnatural hour to trace it home. It was in that enchanting time
+when men are still asleep in their nests, and even "My Lord Sun" has
+not arisen from his; when the air is sweet and fresh, and as free from
+the dust of man's coming and going as if his tumults did not exist. It
+was so still that the flit of a wing was almost startling. The water
+lapped softly against the shore; but who can
+
+  "Write in a hook the morning's prime,
+  Or match with words that tender sky"?
+
+The song that had called me up was a sweet though simple strain, and it
+was repeated every morning while his mate was separated from him by her
+nest duties. I can find no mention of it in books, but I had many
+opportunities to study it, and thus it was. It began with a low kingbird
+"Kr-r-r" (or rolling sound impossible to express by letters), without
+which I should not have identified it at first, and it ended with a very
+sweet call of two notes, five tones apart, the lower first, after a
+manner suggestive of the phoebe--something like this:
+"Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-be! Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-be!" In the outset, and I think I
+heard the very first attempt, it resembled the initial efforts of
+cage-birds, when spring tunes their throats. The notes seemed hard to
+get out; they were weak, uncertain, fluttering, as if the singer were
+practicing something quite new. But as the days went by they grew strong
+and assured, and at last were a joyous and loud morning greeting. I
+don't know why I should be so surprised to hear a kingbird sing; for I
+believe that one of the things we shall discover, when we begin to study
+birds alive instead of dead, is that every one has a song, at least in
+spring, when, in the words of an enthusiastic bird-lover, "the smallest
+become poets, often sublime songsters." I have already heard several
+sing that are set down as lacking in that mode of expression.
+
+To return to my kingbird, struggling with his early song. After
+practicing perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, he left his perch, flew
+across the yard, and circled around the top bough, with his usual
+good-morning to his partner, who at once slipped off and went for her
+breakfast, while he stayed to watch the nest.
+
+This magic dawn could not last. It grew lighter; the sun was bestirring
+himself. I heard oars on the bay; and now that the sounds of men began,
+the robin mounted the fence and sang his waking song. The rogue!--he had
+been "laughing" and shouting for an hour. "Awake! awake!" he seemed to
+say; and on our dreamy beds we hear him, and think it the first sound of
+the new day. Then, too, came the jubilee of the English sparrow,
+welcoming the appearance of mankind, whose waste and improvidence supply
+so easily his larder. Why should he spend his time hunting insects? The
+kitchen will open, the dining-room follows, and crumbs are sure to
+result. He will wait, and meanwhile do his best to waken his purveyor.
+
+I found this to be the almost invariable programme of kingbird life at
+this period: after matins, the singer flew to the nest tree, and his
+spouse went to her breakfast; in a few seconds he dropped to the edge of
+the nest, looked long and earnestly at the contents, then flew to one of
+his usual perching-places near by, and remained in silence till he saw
+the little mother coming. During the day he relieved her at the
+intervals mentioned, and at night, when she had settled to rest, he
+stayed at his post on the fence till almost too dark to be seen, and
+then took his way, with a good-night greeting, to his sleeping-place on
+the poplar.
+
+Thus matters went through June till the 29th, when, at about four
+o'clock in the afternoon, there was an unusual stir about the kingbird
+castle. I saw that something had happened, and this must open a new
+chapter. But before beginning the chronicle of the kingbird babies, I
+should like to give my testimony about _one_ member of the family. As a
+courteous and tender spouse, as a devoted father and a brave defender of
+his household, I know no one who outranks him. In attending to his own
+business and never meddling with others, he is unexcelled. In regard to
+his fighting, he has driven many away from his tree, as do all birds,
+but he never sought a quarrel; and the only cases of anything like a
+personal encounter were with the two birds who insisted on annoying him.
+He is chivalrous to young birds not his own, as will appear in the story
+of his family. He is, indeed, usually silent, perhaps even solemn, but
+he may well be so; he has an important duty to perform in the world, and
+one that should bring him thanks and protection instead of scorn and a
+bad name. It is to reduce the number of man's worst enemies, the vast
+army of insects. What we owe to the fly-catchers, indeed, we can never
+guess, although, if we go on destroying them, we may have our eyes
+opened most thoroughly. Even if the most serious charge against the
+kingbird is true, that he eats bees, it were better that every bee on
+the face of the earth should perish than that his efficient work among
+other insects should be stopped.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS.
+
+
+There was
+
+  "Riot of roses and babel of birds,
+  All the world in a whirl of delight,"
+
+when the three baby kingbirds opened their eyes to the June sunlight.
+Three weeks I had watched, if I had not assisted at, the rocking of
+their cradle, followed day by day the patient brooding, and carefully
+noted the manners and customs of the owners thereof. At last my long
+vigil was rewarded. It was near the end of a lovely June day, when June
+days were nearly over, that there appeared a gentle excitement in the
+kingbird family. The faithful sitter arose, with a peculiar cry that
+brought her mate at once to her side, and both looked eagerly together
+into the nest that held their hopes. Once or twice the little dame
+leaned over and made some arrangements within, and then suddenly she
+slipped back into her place, and her spouse flew away. But something had
+happened, it was plain to see; for from that moment she did not sit so
+closely, her mate showed unusual interest in the nest, and both of them
+often stood upon the edge at the same time. That day was doubtless the
+birthday of the first little king.
+
+To be sure, the careful mother still sat on the nest part of every day,
+but that she continued to do, with ever-lengthening intervals, till
+every infant had grown up and left the homestead forever.
+
+All through the sitting the work of the head of the family had been
+confined to encouraging his partner with an early morning song and his
+cheerful presence during the day, and to guarding the nest while she
+sought her food; but now that her most fatiguing labor was over, his
+began. At first he took entire charge of the provision supply, while she
+kept her nurslings warm and quiet, which every mother, little or big,
+knows is of great importance. When the young father arrived with food,
+which he did frequently, his spouse stepped to the nearest twig and
+looked on with interest, while he leaned over and filled one little
+mouth, or at any rate administered one significant poke which must be
+thus interpreted. He did not stay long; indeed, he had not time, for
+this way of supplying the needs of a family is slow business; and
+although there were but three mouths to fill, three excursions and three
+hunts were required to fill them. In the early morning he seemed to
+have more leisure; at that time, the happy young couple stood one each
+side of the nest, and the silent listener would hear the gentle murmurs
+of what Victor Hugo calls "the airy dialogues of the nest." Ah, that our
+dull ears could understand!
+
+For some days the homestead was never left alone, and the summer breezes
+
+  "Softly rocked the babies three,
+  Nestled under the mother's wing,"
+
+almost as closely as before they came out of the egg. But much of the
+time she sat on the edge, while her partner came and went, always
+lingering a moment to look in. It was pretty to see him making up his
+mind where to put the morsel, so small that it did not show in the beak.
+He turned his head one side and then the other, considered, decided, and
+at last thrust it in the selected mouth.
+
+The resting-time of the newly made matron was short; for when those
+youngsters were four days old--so fast do birdlings grow--the labor of
+both parents was required to keep them fed. Every ten minutes of the day
+one of the pair came to the nest: the father invariably alighted,
+deliberated, fed, and then flew; while the mother administered her
+mouthful, and then either slipped into the nest, covering her bantlings
+completely, or rested upon the edge for several minutes. There was
+always a marked difference in the conduct of the pair.
+
+Six days the kingbird babies were unseen from below; but on the seventh
+day of their life two downy gray caps were lifted above the edge of the
+dwelling, accompanied by two small yellow beaks, half open for what
+goods the gods might provide. After that event, whenever the tender
+mother sat on her nest, two--and later three--little heads showed
+plainly against her satiny white breast, as if they were resting there,
+making a lovely picture of motherhood.
+
+Not for many days lasted the open-mouth baby stage in these rapidly
+developing youngsters. Very soon they were pert and wide awake, looking
+upon the green world about them with calm eyes, and opening mouths only
+when food was to be expected. Mouthfuls, too, were no longer of the
+minute order; they were large enough for the parents themselves, and of
+course plain to be seen. Sometimes, indeed, as in the case of a big
+dragon-fly, the father was obliged to hold on, while the young hopeful
+pulled off piece after piece, until it was small enough for him to
+manage; occasionally, too, when the morsel was particularly hard, the
+little king passed it back to the giver, who stood waiting, and received
+it again when it had been apparently crushed or otherwise prepared, so
+that he could swallow it.
+
+Midsummer was at hand. The voices of young birds were heard on every
+side. The young thrasher and the robin chirped in the grove; sweet
+bluebird and pewee baby cries came from the shrubbery; the golden-wing
+leaned far out of his oaken walls, and called from morning to night.
+Hard-working parents rushed hither and thither, snatching, digging, or
+dragging their prey from every imaginable hiding-place. It was woful
+times in the insect world, so many new hungry mouths to be filled. All
+this life seemed to stir the young kings: they grew restless; they were
+late. Their three little heads, growing darker every day, bobbed this
+way and that; they changed places in the nest; they thrust out small
+wings; above all and through all, they violently preened themselves. In
+fact, this elaborate dressing of feathers was their constant business
+for so long a time that I thought it no wonder the grown-up kingbird
+pays little attention to his dress; he does enough pluming in the
+nursery to last a lifetime.
+
+On the twelfth day of their life, the young birds added their voices to
+the grand world-chorus in a faint, low "che-up," delivered with a
+kingbird accent; then, also, they began to sit up calmly, and look over
+the edge of the nest at what went on below, quite in the manner of
+their fathers. Two days later, the first little king mounted the walls
+of his castle, fluttered his wings, and apparently meditated the grand
+plunge into the world outside of home. So absorbed was he in his new
+emotions that he did not see the arrival of something to eat, and put in
+a claim for his share, as usual. I thought he was about to bid farewell
+to his birthplace. But I did not know him. Not till the youngest of the
+family was ready to go did he step out of the nest,--the three were
+inseparable. While I waited, expecting every moment to see him fly,
+there was a sudden change in the air, and very shortly a furious storm
+of wind and rain broke over us. Instantly every young bird subsided into
+the nest, out of sight; and in a few minutes their mother came, and gave
+them the protection of her presence.
+
+Several days were spent by the oak-tree household in shaking out the
+wings, taking observations of the world, dressing the feathers, and
+partaking of luncheon every few minutes. Such a nestful of restlessness
+I never saw; the constant wonder was that they managed not to fall out.
+Often the three sat up side by side on the edge, white breasts shining
+in the sun, and heads turning every way with evident interest. The dress
+was now almost exactly like the parents'. No speckled bib, like the
+bluebird or robin infant's, defaces the snowy breast; no ugly gray coat,
+like the redwing baby's, obscures the beauty of the little kingbird's
+attire. He enters society in full dress.
+
+But each day, now, the trio grew in size, in repose of manner, and in
+strength of voice; and before long they sat up hours at a time, patient,
+silent, and ludicrously resembling the
+
+  "Three wise men of Gotham
+  Who went to sea in a bowl."
+
+In spite of their grown-up looks and manners, they did not lose their
+appetite; and from breakfast, at the unnatural hour of half past four in
+the morning, till a late supper, when so dark that I could see only the
+movement of feeding like a silhouette against the white clouds, all
+through the day, food came to the nest every two minutes or less. Think
+of the work of those two birds! Every mouthful brought during those
+fifteen and a half hours required a separate hunt. They usually flew out
+to a strip of low land, where the grass was thick and high. Over this
+they hovered with beautiful motion, and occasionally dropped an instant
+into the grass. The capture made, they started at once for the nest,
+resting scarcely a moment. There were thus between three and four
+hundred trips a day, and of course that number of insects were
+destroyed. Even after the salt bath, which one bird took always about
+eleven in the morning, and the other about four in the afternoon, they
+did not stop to dry their plumage; but simply passed the wing feathers
+through the beak, paying no attention to the breast feathers, which
+often hung in locks, showing the dark part next the body, and so
+disguising the birds that I scarcely knew them when they came to the
+nest.
+
+The bath was interesting. The river, so called, was in fact an arm of
+the Great South Bay, and of course salt. To get a bath, the bird flew
+directly into the water, as if after a fish; then came to the fence to
+shake himself. Sometimes the dip was repeated once or twice, but more
+often bathing ended with a single plunge.
+
+Two weeks had passed over their heads, and the three little kings had
+for several days dallied with temptation on the brink before one set
+foot outside the nest. Even then, on the fifteenth day, he merely
+reached the door-step, as it were, the branch on which it rested.
+However, that was a great advance. He shook himself thoroughly, as if
+glad to have room to do so. This venturesome infant hopped about four
+inches from the walls of the cottage, looked upon the universe from that
+remote point, then hurried back to his brothers, evidently frightened at
+his own boldness.
+
+On the day of this first adventure began a mysterious performance, the
+meaning of which I did not understand till later, when it became very
+familiar. It opened with a peculiar call, and its object was to rouse
+the young to follow. So remarkable was the effect upon them that I have
+no doubt a mob of kingbirds could be brought together by its means. It
+began, as I said, with a call, a low, prolonged cry, sounding, as nearly
+as letters can express it, like "Kr-r-r-r! Kr-r-r-r!" At the same
+moment, both parents flew in circles around the tree, a little above the
+nest, now and then almost touching it, and all the time uttering the
+strange cry. At the first sound, the three young kings mounted the edge,
+wildly excited, dressing their plumage in the most frantic manner, as if
+their lives depended on being off in an instant. It lasted but a few
+moments: the parents flew away; the youngsters calmed down.
+
+In a short time all the nestlings were accustomed to going out upon the
+branch, where they clustered together in a little row, and called and
+plumed alternately; but one after another slipped back into the dear old
+home, which they apparently found it very hard to leave. Often, upon
+coming out of the house, after the imperative demands of luncheon or
+dinner had dragged me for a time away from my absorbing study, not a
+kingbird, old or young, could be seen. The oak was deserted, the nest
+perfectly silent.
+
+"They have flown!" I thought.
+
+But no: in a few minutes small heads began show above the battlements;
+and in ten seconds after the three little kings were all in sight,
+chirping and arranging their dress with fresh vigor, after their nap.
+
+Not one of the young family tried his wings till he was seventeen days
+old. The first one flew perhaps fifteen feet, to another branch of the
+native tree, caught at a cluster of leaves, held on a few seconds, then
+scrambled to a twig and stood up. The first flight accomplished! After
+resting some minutes, he flew back home, alighting more easily this
+time, and no doubt considered himself a hero. Whatever his feelings, it
+was evident that he could fly, and he was so pleased with his success
+that he tried it again and again, always keeping within ten or fifteen
+feet of home. Soon his nest-fellows began to follow his example; and
+then it was interesting to see them, now scattered about the broad old
+tree, and then, in a little time, all back in the nest, as if they had
+never left it. After each excursion came a long rest, and every time
+they went out they flew with more freedom. Never were young birds so
+loath to leave the nursery, and never were little folk so clannish. It
+looked as if they had resolved to make that homestead on the top branch
+their headquarters for life, and, above all, never to separate. That
+night, however, came the first break, and they slept in a droll little
+row, so close that they looked as if welded into one, and about six feet
+from home. For some time after they had settled themselves the mother
+sat by them, as if she intended to stay; but when it had grown quite
+dark, her mate sailed out over the tree calling; and she,--well, the
+babies were grown up enough to be out in the world,--she went with her
+spouse to the poplar-tree.
+
+Progress was somewhat more rapid after this experience, and in a day or
+two the little kings were flying freely, by short flights, all about the
+grove, which came quite up to the fence. Now I saw the working of the
+strange migrating call above mentioned. Whenever the old birds began the
+cries and the circling flight, the young were thrown into a fever of
+excitement. One after another flew out, calling and moving in circles as
+long as he could keep it up. For five minutes the air was full of
+kingbird cries, both old and young, and then fell a sudden silence. Each
+young bird dropped to a perch, and the elders betook themselves to their
+hunting-ground as calmly as if they had not been stirring up a rout in
+the family. Usually, at the end of the affair, the youngsters found
+themselves widely apart; for they had not yet learned to fly together,
+and to be apart was, above all things, repugnant to the three. They
+began calling; and the sound was potent to reunite them. From this side
+and that, by easy stages, came a little kingbird, each flight bringing
+them nearer each other; and before two minutes had passed they were
+nestled side by side, as close as ever. There they sat an hour or two
+and uttered their cries, and there they were hunted up and fed by the
+parents. There, I almost believe, they would have stayed till doomsday,
+but for the periodical stirring up by the mysterious call. No matter how
+far they wandered,--and each day it was farther and farther,--seven
+o'clock always found them moving; and all three came back to the native
+tree for the night, though never to the nest again.
+
+No characteristic of the young kingbirds was more winning than their
+confiding and unsuspicious reception of strangers, for so soon as they
+began to frequent other trees than the one the paternal vigilance had
+made comparatively sacred to them, they were the subjects of attention.
+The English sparrow was first, as usual, to inquire into their right to
+be out of their own tree. He came near them, alighted, and began to hop
+still closer. Not in the least startled by his threatening manner, the
+nearest youngster looked at him, and began to flutter his wings, to
+call, and to move toward him, as if expecting to be fed. This was too
+much even for a sparrow; he departed.
+
+Another curious visitor was a red-eyed vireo, who, being received in the
+same innocent and childlike way, also took his leave. But this bird
+appeared to feel insulted, and in a few minutes stole back, and took
+revenge in a most peculiar way; he hovered under the twig on which the
+three were sitting, their dumpy tails hanging down in a row, and
+actually twitched the feathers of those tails! Even that did not
+frighten the little ones; they leaned far over and stared at their
+assailant, but nothing more. I looked carefully to see if the vireo had
+a nest on that tree, so strange a thing it seemed for a bird to do. The
+tree was quite tall, with few branches, an oak grown in a close grove,
+and I am sure there was no vireo nest on it; so that it was an
+absolutely gratuitous insult.
+
+In addition to supplying the constantly growing appetites of the family,
+the male kingbird did not forget to keep a sharp lookout for intruders;
+for, until the youngsters could take care of themselves, he was bound to
+protect them. One day a young robin alighted nearer to the little group
+than he considered altogether proper, and he started, full tilt, toward
+him. As he drew near, the alarmed robin uttered his baby cry, when
+instantly the kingbird wheeled and left; nor did he notice the stranger
+again, although he stayed there a long time. But when an old robin came
+to attend to his wants, that was a different matter; the kingbird went
+at once for the grown-up bird, thus proving that he spared the first one
+because of his babyhood.
+
+It was not till they were three weeks old that the little kings began to
+fly any lower than about the level of their nest. Then one came to the
+fence, and the others to the top of a grape-trellis. I hoped to see some
+indication of looking for food, and I did; but it was all looking up and
+calling on the parents; not an eye was turned earthward. Now the young
+ones began to fly more nearly together, and one could see that a few
+days' more practice would enable them to fly in a compact little flock.
+Shortly before this they had ceased to come to the native tree at night,
+and by day extended their wanderings so far that sometimes they were not
+heard for hours. Regularly, however, as night drew near, the migrating
+cry sounded in the grove, and upon going out I always found them
+together,--three
+
+  "Silver brown little birds,
+  Sitting close in the branches."
+
+These interesting bantlings were twenty-four days old when it became
+necessary for me to leave them, as they had already left me. It was a
+warm morning, near the end of July, and about half an hour before I must
+go I went out to take my last look at them. Their calls were still loud
+and frequent, and I had no difficulty in tracing them to a dead twig
+near the top of a pine-tree, where they sat close together, as usual,
+with faces to the west; lacking only in length of tail of being as big
+as their parents, yet still calling for food, and still, to all
+appearances, without the smallest notion that they could ever help
+themselves.
+
+Thus I left them.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE BABES IN THE WOOD.
+
+
+The little home in the wood was well hidden. About its door were no
+signs of life, no chips from its building, no birds lingering near, no
+external indication whatever. In silence the tenants came and went;
+neither calls, songs, nor indiscreet tapping gave hint of the presence
+of woodpeckers in the neighborhood, and food was sought out of sight and
+hearing of the carefully secluded spot. No one would have suspected what
+treasures were concealed within the rough trunk of that old oak but for
+an accident.
+
+Madam herself was the culprit. In carrying out an eggshell, broken at
+one end and of no further use, she dropped it near the foot of the tree.
+To her this was doubtless a disaster, but to me it was a treasure-trove,
+for it told her well-kept secret. The hint was taken, the home soon
+found in the heart of an oak, with entrance twenty feet from the ground,
+and close watching from a distance revealed the owner, a golden-winged
+woodpecker.
+
+The tree selected by the shy young pair for their nursery stood in a
+pleasant bit of woods, left wild, on the shore of the Great South Bay,
+"where precious qualities of silence haunt," and the delicious breath of
+the sea mingled with the fragrance of pines. One must be an enthusiast
+to spy out the secrets of a bird's life, and this pair of golden-wings
+made more than common demand on the patience of the student, so silent,
+so wary, so wisely chosen, their sanctum. Before the door hung a
+friendly oak branch, heavy with leaves, that swayed and swung with every
+breeze. Now it hid the entrance from the east, now from the west, and
+with every change of the vagrant wind the observer must choose a new
+point of view.
+
+Then the birds! Was ever a pair so quiet? Without a sound they came, on
+level path, to the nest, dropped softly to the trunk, slipped quickly
+in, and, after staying about one minute inside, departed as noiselessly
+as they came. Their color, too! One would think a bird of that size, of
+golden-brown mottled with black, with yellow feather-shafts and a
+brilliant scarlet head-band, must be conspicuous. But so perfectly did
+the soft colors harmonize with the rough, sun-touched bark, so
+misleading were the shadows of the leaves moving in the breeze, and so
+motionless was the bird flattened against the trunk, that one might look
+directly at it and not see it.
+
+For a few days the woodpeckers were so timid that I was unable to
+secure a good look at them. The marked difference of manner, however,
+convinced me that both parents were engaged in attending upon the young
+family; and as they grew less vigilant and I learned to distinguish
+them, I discovered that it was so. The only dissimilarity in dress
+between the lord and lady of the golden-wing family is a small black
+patch descending from the beak of the male, answering very well to the
+mustache of bigger "lords of creation." In coming to the nest, one of
+the pair flew swiftly, just touched for an instant the threshold, and
+disappeared within; this I found to be the head of the household. The
+other, the mother, as it proved, being more cautious, alighted at the
+door, paused, thrust her head in, withdrew it, as if undecided whether
+to venture in the presence of a stranger, and, after two or three such
+movements, darted in. Always in one minute the bird reappeared, flew at
+once out of the wood, at about the height of the nest, and did not come
+down till it reached, on one side, an old garden run to waste, or, on
+the other, far over the water, a cultivated field. At that tender age,
+the young flickers received their rations about twice in an hour.
+
+Although the golden-wings were silent, the wood around them was lively
+from morning till night. Blackbirds and cuckoos flew over; orioles,
+both orchard and Baltimore, sang and foraged among the trees;
+song-sparrows and chippies trilled from the fence at one side: bluebird
+and thrasher searched the ground, and paid in music for the privilege;
+pewees and kingbirds made war upon insects; and from afar came the notes
+of redwing and meadow-lark. Others there were, casual visitors, and of
+course it did not escape the squawks and squabbles of the English
+sparrow,--
+
+  "Irritant, iterant, maddening bird."
+
+The robins, who one sometimes wishes, with Lanier's owl, "had more to
+think and less to say," were not so self-assertive as they usually are;
+in fact, they were quite subdued. They came and went freely, but they
+never questioned my actions, as they are sure to do where they lead
+society. Now and then one perched on the fence and regarded me, with
+flick of wing and tail that meant a good deal, but he expressed no
+opinion. With kingbirds on one side, pewees on the other, and the great
+crested fly-catcher a daily caller, this was eminently a fly-catcher
+grove, and the robin plainly felt that he was not responsible for its
+good order. Indeed, after fly-catcher households were set up, he had his
+hands full to maintain his right to be there at all.
+
+Whatever went on, the woodpeckers took no part in it. Back and forth
+they passed, almost stealthily, caring not who ruled the grove so that
+their precious secret was not discovered. Neither of them stayed to
+watch the nest, nor did they come and go together. The birds in the
+neighborhood might be inquisitive,--there was no one to resent it;
+blackbirds scrambled over the oak, robins perched on the screening
+branch, and no one about the silent entrance disputed their right.
+
+In the first flush of dismay at finding themselves watched, the
+golden-wings, as I said, redoubled their cautiousness. They tried to
+keep the position of the nest secret by coming from the back, gliding
+around on the trunk, and stealing in at the door, or by alighting
+quietly high up in the body of the tree, and coming down backward,--that
+is, tail first. But by remaining absolutely without motion or sound
+while they were present, I gradually won their toleration, and had my
+reward. The birds ceased to regard me as an enemy, and, though they
+always looked at me, no longer tried to keep out of sight, or to hide
+the object of their visits. During the first day of watching I had the
+good fortune to see a second empty shell brought out of the nest, and
+dropped a little farther off than the first had been; and I feel safe in
+assuming that these two were the birthdays of the babes in the wood.
+
+Thirteen days were devoted to the study of the manners and customs of
+the parents before the hidden subjects of their solicitude gave any
+signs of life visible from below. Though visits were about half an hour
+apart, and flicker babies have very good appetites, they did not go
+hungry, for on every occasion they had a hearty meal instead of the
+single mouthful that many young birds receive. This fact was guessed at
+on the thirteenth day, when the concealed little ones came out of the
+darkness up to the door, and the parents' movements in feeding could be
+seen; but the whole curious process was plain two days later, when a
+young golden-wing appeared at the opening and met his supplies half-way.
+The food-bearer clung to the bark beside the entrance, leaned over,
+turned his head on one side, and thrust his beak within the slightly
+opened beak of his offspring. In this position he gave eight or ten
+quick little jerks of his head, which doubtless represented so many
+mouthfuls; then, drawing back his head, he made a motion of the throat,
+as though swallowing, which was, presumably, raising instead, for he
+leaned over again and repeated the operation in the waiting mouth. This
+performance was gone through with as many as three or four times in
+succession before one flicker baby was satisfied. After the nestlings
+came up to the door, the parents went no more inside, as a rule, and
+housekeeping took care of itself.
+
+On the fifteenth day of his life, as said above, the eldest scion of the
+golden-wing family made his appearance at the portal of his home. The
+sight and the sound of him came together, for he burst out at once with
+a cry. It was not very loud, but it meant something, and the practice of
+a day or two gave it all the strength that was desirable. In fact, it
+became clamorous to a degree that made further attempts at concealment
+useless, and no one was quicker to recognize it than the parents. The
+baby cry was the utterance familiar from the grown-up birds as "wick-a!
+wick-a! wick-a!" From this day, when one of the elders drew near the
+tree, it was met at the opening by an eager little face and a begging
+call; but it was several days before the recluse showed interest in
+anything except the food supply. Meals were now nearly an hour apart,
+and the moment one was over the well-fed youngster in the tree fell back
+out of sight, probably to sleep, after the fashion of babies the world
+over. But all this soon came to an end. The young flicker began to
+linger a few minutes after he had been fed, and to thrust his beak out
+in a tentative way, as if wondering what the big out-of-doors was like,
+any way.
+
+Matters were going on thus prosperously, when a party of English
+sparrows, newly fledged, came to haunt the wood in a small flock of
+eighteen or twenty; to meddle, in sparrow style, with everybody's
+business; and to profane the sweet stillness of the place with harsh
+squawks. The mistress of the little home in the oak, who had conducted
+her domestic affairs so discreetly, one day found herself the centre of
+a mob; for these birds early learn the power of combination. She came to
+her nest followed by the impertinent sparrows, who flew as close as
+possible, none of them more than a foot from her. They alighted as near
+as they could find perches, crowded nearer, stretched up, flew over, and
+tried in every way, with an air of the deepest interest, to see what she
+_could_ be doing in that hole. When she left,--which she did soon, for
+she was annoyed,--the crowd did not go with her; they were bound to
+explore the mystery of that opening. They flew past it; they hovered
+before it; they craned their necks to peer in; they perched on a bare
+twig that grew over it, as many as could get footing, and leaned far
+over to see within. The young flicker retired before his inquisitive
+visitors, and was seen no more till the mother came again; and then she
+had to go in out of sight to find him.
+
+As the days went on, the babe in the wood became more used to the
+sunlight and the bird-sounds about him. Evidently, he was of a
+meditative turn, for he did not scramble out, and rudely rush upon his
+fate; he deliberated; he studied, with the air of a philosopher; he
+weighed the attractions of a cool and breezy world against the comforts
+and delightful obscurity of home. Perhaps, also, there entered into his
+calculations the annoyance of a reporter meeting him on the threshold of
+life, tearing the veil away from his private affairs. What would one
+give to know the thoughts in that little brown head, on its first look
+at life! Whatever the reason, he plainly concluded not to take the risk
+that day, for he disappeared again behind a door that no reporter,
+however glib or plausible, could pass. Sometimes he vanished with a
+suddenness that was not natural. Did his heart fail him, or, perchance,
+his footing give way? For whether he clung to the walls, or made
+stepping-stones of his brothers and sisters (as do many of his betters,
+or at least his biggers), who can tell? Often beside this eldest-born,
+after the first day, appeared a second little head, spying eagerly, if a
+little less bravely, on the world, and as days passed he frequently
+contested the position of vantage with his brother, but he was always
+second.
+
+Mother Nature is kind to woodpeckers. She fits them out for life before
+they leave the seclusion of the nursery. There is no callow, immature
+period in the face of the world, no "green" age for the gibes or
+superior airs of elders. A woodpecker out of the nest is a woodpecker in
+the dress and with the bearing of his fathers,--dignified, serene, and
+grown up.
+
+As the sweet June days advanced, the young bird in the oak-tree grew
+bolder. He no longer darted in when a saucy sparrow came near, and when
+the parent arrived with food the cries became so loud that all the world
+could know that here were young woodpeckers at dinner. Now, too, he
+began to spend much time in dressing his plumage, in preparation for the
+grand debut. Usually, when a young bird begins to dally with the
+temptation to fly, so rapid is growth among birds, he may be expected
+out in a few hours. In this deliberate family it is different; indeed,
+taking flight must be a greater step for a woodpecker than for a bird
+from an open nest.
+
+Three days the youngster had been debating whether it were "to be or not
+to be," and more and more he lingered in the doorway, sitting far enough
+out to show his black necklace. His was no longer the wondering gaze of
+infancy, to which all things are equally strange; it was a
+discriminating look,--the head turned quickly, and passing objects drew
+his attention. On the third day, too, he uttered his first genuine
+woodpecker cry of "pe-auk!" He had not the least embarrassment before
+me. I think he regarded me as a part of the landscape,--the eccentric
+development of a tree trunk, perhaps; for while he never looked at me
+nor put the smallest restraint upon his infant passions, let another
+person come into the wood, and he was at once silent and on his guard.
+All this time he had become more and more fascinated with the view
+without his door; one could fairly see the love of the world grow upon
+him. He picked at the bark about him; he began to get ideas about ants,
+and ran out a long tongue and helped himself to many a tidbit.
+
+When the young golden-wing had passed four days in this manner, he grew
+impatient. The hour-long intervals between meals were not to his mind,
+and he began to express himself fluently. He leaned far out, and
+delivered the adult cry with great vigor and new pathos; he then bowed
+violently many times, moved his mouth as if eating, and struggled
+farther and still farther out, until it seemed that he could not keep
+within another minute. When one of the parents came he forgot his
+grown-up manner, and returned to the baby cry, loud and urgent, as if he
+were starved.
+
+He was fed, and again left; and now he scrambled up with his feet on
+the edge. He was silent; he was considering an important move, a plunge
+into the world. He wanted to come,--he longed to fly. Outside were
+sunshine, sweet air, trees, food,--inside only darkness. The smallest
+coaxing would bring him out; but coaxing he was not to have. He must
+decide for himself; the impulse must be from within.
+
+The next morning opened with a severe northeast gale.
+
+  "It rained, and the wind was never weary."
+
+The birds felt the depressing influence of the day. The robins perched
+on the fence, wings hanging, each feather like a bare stick, and not a
+sound escaping the throat; and when robins are discouraged, it is dismal
+weather indeed. The bluebirds came about, draggled almost beyond
+recognition. Even the swallows sailed over silently, their merry chatter
+hushed.
+
+But life must go on, whatever the weather; and fearing the young
+woodpecker might select this day to make his entry into the big world,
+his faithful watcher donned rainy-day costume, and went out to assist in
+the operation. The storm did not beat upon his side of the tree, and the
+youngster still hung out of his hole in the trunk, calling and crying,
+apparently without the least intention of exposing his brand-new
+feathers to the rain.
+
+Very early the following morning, before the human world was astir, loud
+golden-wing cries, and calls, and "laughs" were heard about the wood.
+This abandonment of restraint proclaimed that something had happened;
+and so, indeed, I discovered; for in hastening to my post I found an
+ominous silence about the oak-tree. The young wise-head, whose struggles
+and temptations I had watched so closely, had chosen to go in the
+magical morning hours, when the world belongs entirely to birds and
+beasts. The home in the wood looked deserted.
+
+I sat down in silence and waited, for I knew the young flicker could not
+long be still. Sure enough, I soon heard his cry, but how far off! I
+followed it to an oak-tree on the farther edge of the grove. I searched
+the tree, and there I saw him, quiet now as I approached, and plainly
+full of joy in his freedom and his wings.
+
+I returned to my place, hoping that all had not gone. There must be more
+than one, for two had been up to the door, I was sure. I waited. Some
+hours later, the parents came to their home in the wood, one after the
+other. Back one alighted beside the door, glanced in, in a casual way,
+but did not put the head in, and then flew to a neighboring tree,
+uttering what sounded marvelously like a chuckling laugh, and in a
+moment left the grove. Did, then, the daughters of the house meekly fly,
+without preliminary study of the world from the door? Were there,
+perchance, no daughters? Indeed, had more than one infant reached
+maturity? All these questions I asked myself, but not one shall I ever
+be able to answer.
+
+I waited several hours. Many birds sang and called among the trees, but
+no sound came from the oak-tree household, and to me the wood was
+deserted.
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+HOME LIFE OF THE REDSTART.
+
+
+The redstart himself told me where his treasures were "hid in a leafy
+hollow." Not that he intended to be so confiding; on the contrary he was
+somewhat disconcerted when he saw what he had done, and tried his best
+to undo it by appearing not to have the smallest interest in that
+particular tree. I happened that morning to be wandering slowly along
+the edge of a tree-lined ravine, looking for the nest of a greatly
+disturbed pair of cat-birds. As I drew near an old moss-covered
+apple-tree, I heard a low though energetic "phit! phit!" and a chipping
+sparrow emerged from the tree with much haste, quickly followed by a
+redstart, with the unmistakable air of proprietor. The sight of me made
+a diversion. The pursued dropped into the grass, while the pursuer
+turned his attention to the bigger game, presented so unexpectedly that
+he had not time to bethink himself of his usual custom of not showing
+his gorgeous black and gold about home. He scolded me well for an
+instant, till his wits returned, when he disappeared like a flash. It
+was too late to deceive me, however, and I marked that tree as I passed,
+intent at the moment upon cat-birds.
+
+On returning, I stopped on the bank to look the tree over at my leisure,
+and there I soon saw, two feet from the top of the tallest upright
+branch and tightly clinging to it, a small cradle, gently rocking in the
+warm breeze. No one was at home, and I sat down to wait. This movement
+did not meet the approval of a certain small tenant of a neighboring
+tree, for I was saluted by a sharp, low, incessant cry; now it came from
+the right side, now from the left. I turned quickly, caught a glimpse of
+yellow, the flit of a wing, and then--nothing. In a moment the sound
+began again, and thus it tantalized me till my neck became tired, and I
+laid my head back among the ferns, to wait till the small fire-brand
+calmed down a little. To my surprise and delight, the bird seemed to
+regard this as a surrender, for down a broad branch that sloped toward
+me came a most animated bundle of feathers, wings and tail wide spread,
+making hostile demonstrations, and scolding as fiercely as such an atom
+could. It had all the airs of ownership, and its colors were olive and
+yellow; had, then, the roguish redstart deceived me, after all? Thus
+pondering, I suddenly remembered that I had never seen his spouse, and
+that monsieur and madame do not dress alike in the bird world any more
+than in the human. I marked the points; I consulted the books; there
+could be no doubt this was the little dame herself, and her mate had
+been too clever to come to her aid.
+
+The structure on the apple bough was the redstart homestead. Watch it
+every day I must, yet not to disturb the fiery little owners it was
+necessary to move further from them. I sought and found a delightful
+nook, the other side of the ravine. On its steep sides the native forest
+still flourished, and seated at the foot of a tall maple, tented in by a
+heavy low growth at my back, I could look across the narrow chasm
+through a gap in the trees, and see the redstart nest in the pasture
+beyond. The restless pair did not notice me behind my veil of greenery,
+and my glass was of the best; so I secured a good view of the small
+mansion and the life that went on about it, without in the least
+annoying the builders thereof. I found the head of the family very
+interesting in his role of husband and father.
+
+Perhaps not every one knows a redstart, and his name is misleading, for
+he has not a red feather on his body. He is a bird of very few inches,
+clothed in brilliant array of orange and black and white, which always
+suggests the Baltimore oriole. His mate is more soberly clad in
+olive-brown and golden-yellow; neither of them is still for an instant,
+diving and flitting about on a tree like specks of animated sunlight.
+
+At my pleasant post of observation I spent hours of every day, stealing
+in soon after breakfast, quietly, so as not to arouse the suspicions of
+a robin who lived in the neighborhood; for unfortunate is the student
+whose ways are not acceptable to one of this noisy family. I found,
+however, when my patience gave out, that the robin will take a hint. On
+throwing a pebble through the branches near him, as a suggestion that
+his attentions were not welcome, he flew to a tree a little farther off,
+and resumed his offensive remarks; another pebble convinced him that the
+distance might be profitably increased, and thus I drove him away; at
+about the fourth pebble he took a final departure.
+
+Here, then, I saw the small housekeeping go on. I always found the
+little dame in possession, and generally the lord and master gleaning
+food in redstart fashion; flitting around a branch, darting behind a
+leaf, over and under a twig, tail spread to keep his balance during
+these jerky movements, his bright oriole colors flashing as he dashed
+through a patch of sunlight,--a beautiful object, but a perfectly silent
+one. When his happiness demanded expression he flew to a maple-tree,
+and poured out his soul in the quaint though not very musical ditty of
+his race. Sometimes he stood still on a branch, like a bird who has
+something to say; but more often he rushed around after insects on this
+tree, and threw in the notes between the firm snaps of his beak.
+
+Promptly every half hour the little sprite took his way to that precious
+apple branch, and dropped, light as a snow-flake, on a certain twig on
+the nearest side of his homestead. A flash from the nest announced the
+departure of madame, and he popped into her place. Not to settle down to
+business, as she did,--far from it! It is a wonder to me how even a
+female redstart can sit still. On taking his place, he first examined
+the treasures it held, leaning over the edge with a solicitude charming
+to see; and when he did at last cover them from sight, his black velvet
+cap still bobbed up and down, this way and that, as though he were
+taking advantage of his enforced quiet to plume himself. Precisely three
+minutes he allowed his modest spouse for her repast. At the expiration
+of that time he deserted, darted away, and began to call from the next
+tree, when she instantly returned. Sometimes she was at hand, and
+alighted on a twig on the farther side of the nest, when he bounded off
+and out of sight. She carefully inspected the nest to see that all was
+right, then slipped in, settled herself with a gentle flutter of wings,
+and I knew she was safe for another half hour. It was the closest
+watching I ever tried, so quick were the motions, so silent the going
+and coming.
+
+Now and then the redstart chose to stay longer at home. The usual time
+having expired, the little sitter appeared, but if her mate did not
+vacate, she availed herself of the additional liberty in flitting about
+the tree, adding a dessert to her dinner. On one occasion he let her
+return twice before he left, occupying her place for eight minutes,--an
+enormous length of time for a redstart. More often he grew impatient in
+less than three minutes, and once he forgot himself so far as to call
+while in the nest.
+
+During the sitting there came two days of steady, pouring rain and high
+wind. I feared the hopes of that family, as well as others all about,
+would perish, but the brave little mother bore the depressing season
+well. The eggs were never left uncovered, nor did that gay rover, her
+spouse, forget to take her place as usual.
+
+On the morning of my fourth day of watching, I saw there was news;
+sitting was over, and though they could not be seen, it was easy to
+picture the featherless, wide-mouthed objects, evidently so lovely to
+the young parents. Close work as it had been to observe the movements
+of the pair, it was much harder after that, they became at once so wary.
+I am sure they never regarded me in any way as a spy, for I was not in
+their highway; moreover, they would certainly have expressed their mind
+if they had. Yet they came and went entirely from the other side, and so
+exactly opposite the nest that often I could not see even the flit of a
+wing. Not until one stood on the threshold could I see it, and the most
+untiring vigilance was necessary. Even before this madame was cautious
+in her going and coming; she first dropped about two feet to a branch,
+paused a moment, then went to a second one, still lower, thus left the
+tree near the ground, and in returning she began at the lowest branch
+and retraced her steps to the nest.
+
+That day the father of the new family seemed very joyous, and treated us
+to a great deal of singing, though it was not a singing-day, being very
+cold, with a steady rain. The pretty little mother took thoughtful care
+of her brood. For a half hour or more she worked very busily, her mate
+helping, and fed them well; then she deliberately sat down upon those
+youngsters, exactly as though they were still eggs. There she stayed as
+long as she thought best, and then she went to her work again.
+
+The morning they were six days old I had the pleasure of seeing a
+movement in the nest. When the sun reached a certain height above the
+tree, it shone into that small mansion in such a way as to reveal its
+contents; thus I could see the redstart babies moving restlessly,
+evidently in haste already to come out into the world. This day the
+father took rather more than half the charge of the provision supply,
+and with considerable regularity. During four hours that the nest was
+closely watched, its tenants were fed at about five-minute intervals for
+half an hour; and then mamma promptly smothered their ambition, as above
+mentioned, for perhaps a quarter of an hour, when, if they did not take
+naps like "good little birdies," they at least were forced to keep
+still.
+
+This young matron reminded me of some mothers of a larger growth, she
+was so fussy, so careful that her charges did not go too fast for their
+strength, while her spouse made it his business to see that she did not
+keep them tender by over-coddling. He allowed her to brood them for
+fifteen minutes; longer than that he would not tolerate, but came like a
+fiery meteor to see that she moved. She plainly understood his
+intention, for the instant he appeared she darted off, although he did
+not touch the nest. All day the weight of responsibility kept this rover
+at home; he might generally be seen on the lower branches of his tree,
+darting about in perfect silence; but once or twice I saw him actually
+loitering, a pleasant pastime of which I never suspected a redstart.
+
+Six days appears to be the limit of time a redstart baby can submit to a
+cradle. (I know this does not agree with the books, so I explain that it
+was six days from the time constant sitting ceased. If the young were
+out of the shell before that, they were covered all the time, and not
+fed.) The day that stirring urchin was six days old he mounted the edge
+of the nest and tried his wings. When mamma came, he asked for food in
+the usual bird-baby way, gentle flutters of the wings; but this haste
+was certainly not pleasing to the little dame, and upon her departure I
+noticed that he had returned to the nursery.
+
+However, his ambition was roused,--the ambition of a redstart to be
+moving,--and at seven o'clock the next morning, his seventh day, he came
+out with his mind made up to stay. First a shaky little yellowish head
+appeared above the nest; then the owner thereof clambered out upon a
+twig, three inches higher. One minute he rested, to glance around the
+new world, and quickly increased the distance to six inches, where he
+stood fidgeting, arranging his feathers, and evidently preparing for a
+tremendous flight, when his anxious parent returned. Plainly, he would
+have been wiser to wait another day, for all the time it was difficult
+for him to keep his place; every few seconds he made wild struggles,
+beating the air with his wings, and at last, after enjoying that
+elevated position in life about ten minutes, he lost his hold and fell.
+I held my breath, for a fall to the ground meant a dead nestling; but he
+clutched at a twig two or three feet lower, and succeeded in retaining
+this more humble station. Madame came and fed and comforted him, and it
+was soon evident that he had learned a lesson, for he moderated his
+transports; though his head was as restless as ever, his feet were more
+steady; he did not fall again, and he soon scrambled freely all over the
+tree.
+
+Now I was interested to see how the redstart babies were brought up, and
+for more than four hours I kept my eyes on that youngster. It is no
+small task, let me say, to keep watch of an atom an inch or two long, to
+whom any leaf is ample screen, to note every movement lest he slip out
+of sight, and to make memorandum of each morsel of food he gets. There
+were, also, of course, the most seductive sounds about me; never so many
+birds came near. Cat-birds whispered softly behind my back; a vireo
+cried plaintively over my head; the towhee bunting boldly perched on a
+low bush, and saluted me with his peculiar cry; flickers uttered their
+quaint "wick-up" on my right, and a veery sighed softly "we-o" on my
+left. Unflinchingly, however, I kept my face toward that apple-tree, and
+my eyes on that restless young hopeful, while I noted the conduct of the
+parents toward him.
+
+This is what I learned: first, that those left in the nest were to be
+kept back, and not allowed out of the nursery till this one was able to
+care for himself, or at least to help. The nest, holding probably one or
+two little ones, was visited, the first hour almost exactly once in
+twenty minutes, by madame exclusively, and the three succeeding hours at
+longer intervals, by her spouse. Scarcely a move was made there; plainly
+there were no more "come-outers" that day. The efforts of the mother
+were concentrated on number one, apparently, to bring him forward as
+fast as possible. He was, for an hour, fed every five or six minutes,
+the next hour only three times, and this system was kept up with perfect
+regularity all day.
+
+Meanwhile, the behavior of the happy father was peculiar and somewhat
+puzzling, considering how solicitous he had hitherto appeared. For some
+time his gay coat was not to be seen, even on his favorite lower
+branches; and when he did come around, his mate flew at him, whether to
+praise or to punish could only be guessed, for he at once disappeared
+before her. After two or three episodes of this sort he remained about
+the tree, and occasionally contributed a mite to the family sustenance.
+
+The next morning, at half past seven, I resumed my seat as usual, and
+very soon saw I was too late. Both parents were busily flitting about
+the tree, but never once went near the old home; moreover, when the sun
+reached the magical point where he revealed the inside of the nest, lo,
+it was empty!
+
+Either there had been but one other bairn, and he had got out before I
+did,--things happen so rapidly in the redstart family,--or there had
+been a tragedy, I could not discover which. Neither could I find a young
+bird on that tree, though I was sure, by the conduct of the parents,
+that at least one remained.
+
+Now that no one's feelings could be hurt by the operation, I had a limb
+cut off the apple-tree, and the little home I had watched with so great
+interest brought down to me. Nothing could be daintier or more secure
+than that snug little structure. Placed on an upright branch, just below
+the point where five branchlets, a foot or more long, sprang out to
+shelter, and closely surrounded by seven twigs, of few inches but many
+leaves, it was a marvel I had been able to see it at all. The redstarts
+might be lively and restless, but they were good workers. So firmly was
+that nest fastened to its branch, resting on one-twig and embraced by
+two others, like arms, that to remove it would destroy it. Strips of
+something like grapevine bark, with a few grass-blades and a material
+that looked like hornets' or other insects' nest, formed the outside,
+while long horsehairs made the soft lining. Though strong and firm, it
+was on the sides so thin, that, as mentioned above, the movements of the
+young could be seen through it.
+
+This pretty cup, around which so many hopes had centred, was of a size
+for a fairy's homestead,--hardly two inches inside diameter, and less
+than two inches deep. I carried it off as a memento of a delightful June
+among the hills of the old Bay State.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+WHEN NESTING IS OVER.
+
+
+  "When the birds fly past
+  And the chimes ring fast
+  And the long spring shadows sweet shadow cast,"
+
+comes the most attractive time of year to the bird-lover,--the
+baby-days, when the labors and anxieties of the nest being over, proud
+and happy parents bring forward their tender younglings all unused to
+the ways of the world, and carry on their training before our eyes.
+
+First to come upon the scene of the summer's studies was the brown
+thrush family. For some time the head of the household had made the
+grove a regular resting place in his daily round. He always entered in
+silence, alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, and hopped lightly, step
+by step, to the top, where he sang softly a few delightful and
+tantalizing strains. In a moment he dropped to the ground, uttering a
+liquid note or two as he went, and threw into his work of digging among
+the dead leaves the same suppressed vehemence he had put into his song.
+Not unfrequently he came into collision with a sparrow mob that claimed
+to own that piece of wood, and his way of dealing with them was an ever
+fresh satisfaction. He stood quiet, though the crouching attitude and
+the significant twitches of his expressive tail indicated very clearly
+to one who knew him that he was far from calm inside; that he was merely
+biding his time. His tranquil manner misled the vulgar foe; that they
+mistook it for cowardice was obvious. Nearer, and still nearer, they
+drew, surrounded him, and seemed about to fall upon him in a body, when
+he suddenly wheeled, and like a flash of light dashed right and left
+almost simultaneously, as if he had become two birds, and the
+impertinent enemy fairly vanished before him.
+
+Like many another bird, however, the thrasher, although not afraid of
+sparrows, disliked a continual row. He had gradually ceased to come into
+the neighborhood, and I feared I should neither see nor (what was worse)
+hear him again. But one morning he presented himself with two
+youngsters, so brimful of joy that he quite forgot his previous caution
+and reserve. They perched in plain sight on the fence, and while the
+little ones clumsily struggled to maintain their footing, the father
+turned his head this side and that, jerked his tail, and uttered a low
+cry as touch as to say, "Can anybody beat that pair now?"
+
+In a moment he fell to the serious work of filling their hungry mouths.
+Being very wide awake, the young birds readily saw where supplies came
+from, and then they accompanied their parent to the ground, following
+every step, as he dug almost without ceasing. After a tolerably solid
+repast of large white grubs, he slipped away from the dear coaxers,
+disappeared on the other side of the fence, and before they recovered
+from their bewilderment at finding themselves deserted, returned bearing
+in his beak a strawberry. The young thrush received the dainty eagerly,
+but finding it too big to swallow, beat it on the fence as if it were a
+worm. Of course it parted, and a piece fell to the ground, which the
+waiting parent went after, and administered as a second mouthful.
+
+For a long time the little ones were fed on the fence, and the father
+was so happy that every few minutes he was forced to retire behind a
+neighboring tree and "make gladness musical upon the other side."
+
+After that morning the thrasher came daily to the place, and a dessert
+of strawberries invariably followed the more substantial meal, but never
+again did he bring more than one of his family with him.
+
+One morning the brown thrush baby, who had been rapidly growing
+self-reliant, came alone for the first time. It was interesting to watch
+him, running along the tops of the pickets; searching in the hot grass
+till out of breath for something to eat; looking around in a surprised
+way, as if wondering why the food did not come; making a dash, with
+childlike innocence, after a strawberry he saw in the mouth of a robin,
+who in amazement leaped a foot in the air; and at last flying to a tree
+to call and listen for his sire. That wise personage, meanwhile, had
+stolen silently into the grove, all dripping from his bath in the bay,
+and while indulging in a most elaborate dressing and pluming, had kept
+one eye on the infant in the grass below, apparently to see how he got
+on by himself. When at last the little one stood panting and
+discouraged, he called, a single "chirp." The relieved youngster
+recognized it and answered, and at once flew over to join him.
+
+This restless young thrasher, excepting that he was perhaps somewhat
+lighter in color and a little less glossy of coat, looked at that moment
+as old as he ever would. Nothing but his ingenuous ways, and his soft
+baby-cry "chr-er-er" revealed his tender age. His curiosity when he
+found himself in an unfamiliar place or on a strange tree was amusing.
+He looked up and down, stretching his neck in his desire to see
+everything; he critically examined the tuft of leaves near him; he
+peered over and under a neighboring branch, and then gazed gravely
+around on the prospect before him. He flew with ease, and alighted with
+the grace of his family, on the bare trunk of a tree, the straight side
+of a picket, or any other unlikely place for a bird to be found. For a
+week he came and went and was watched and studied, but one day the
+strawberries were gathered in the old garden, and the beautiful brown
+thrush baby appeared no more.
+
+The world was not deserted of bird voices, however.
+
+  "Swift bright wings flitted in and out
+  And happy chirpings were all about."
+
+For days the wood had resounded with the shrill little cries of swallow
+babies, who alighted on the low trees on the border while their busy
+parents skimmed over the bay, or the marshy shore, and every few minutes
+brought food to their clamorous offspring. I had a remarkably good
+opportunity to make the acquaintance of this youngster--the
+white-bellied swallow. There were dozens of them, and the half grown
+trees were their chosen perches. The droll little fellows, with white
+fluffy breasts, no feet to speak of, and
+
+      "Built so narrow
+  Like the head of an arrow
+  To cut the air,"
+
+did not even notice me in my nook under the pines.
+
+They could fly very well, and now and then one followed the parent far
+out, calling sharply his baby "cheep" and trying to get close to her in
+the air. Often she turned, met and fed him on the wing, and then sailed
+on, while the youngster lagged a little, unable to give his mind to
+feeding and flying at the same time. Sometimes the mother avoided a too
+persistent pleader by suddenly rising above him. When a little one was
+at rest, she usually paused before him on wing only long enough to poke
+a mouthful into his wide open beak; occasionally--but not often--she
+alighted beside him for a few moments.
+
+Leading out into the water for the use of boatmen, was a narrow foot
+pier, provided on one side with a hand rail. This rail was a convenient
+rendezvous for all the babies belonging to the swallow flock, a sort of
+a community nursery. On this they rested from the fatigue of flying;
+here they were fed, and sometimes gently pushed off the perch afterward,
+as a mild hint to use their wings.
+
+I wanted to find out whether parents and young knew each other from all
+the rest. Of course in this crowd it was not possible to tell, but I
+found a better chance in another favorite spot, an old post that rose
+out of the water, eight or ten feet from the shore, and so small that it
+was only comfortable for one, although two could stand on it. The post
+seldom lacked its occupant, a baby swallow with head up, looking eagerly
+into the flock above him. This isolated youngling I made my special
+study. Sometimes on the approach of a grown up bird, he lifted his wings
+and opened his mouth, petitioning for, and plainly expecting food. At
+other times he paid not the least attention to a swallow passing over
+him, but sat composed and silent, though watchful, apparently for the
+right one to come in sight. He was often, though not invariably, fed
+upon his appeal; but that proves nothing, for it would require the
+services of a dozen parents to respond to every request of a young bird.
+It not unfrequently happened, too, that one of the flock always flying
+about over the water came very near the little one on the post as if to
+offer him a morsel, but suddenly, when almost upon him, wheeled and
+left,--obviously mistaken. On no such occasion did that knowing
+youngster show any expectation of attention. Again there would sometimes
+join him on the post, a second young swallow, and, although crowded,
+they were quite contented together. Then I noticed as the elders swept
+over, that sometimes one baby begged, sometimes the other; never both at
+once. This seemed to indicate that the little one knows its parents, for
+no one familiar with the craving hunger and the constant opening of the
+baby beak to its natural purveyors, will doubt that when a young bird
+failed to ask, it was because the elder was not its parent.
+
+An early lesson in many bird lives is that of following, or flying in a
+flock, for at first the babies of a brood scatter wildly, and seem not
+to have the smallest notion of keeping together. The small swallows in
+the trees near me were carefully trained in this. Often while one stood
+chirping vehemently, clearly thinking himself half starved, a grown-up
+bird flew close past him, calling in very sweet tones, and stopped in
+plain sight, ten or fifteen feet away. Of course the youngster followed
+at once. But just as he reached the side of the parent, that thoughtful
+tutor took another short flight, calling and coaxing as before. This
+little performance was repeated three or four times before the pupil
+received the tidbits he so urgently desired.
+
+Other sweet baby-talk in the trees came from the wood-pewee. The pewee I
+had noted from the building of her beautiful lichen-covered cradle in
+the crotch of a wild-cherry tree. The branch, dead and leafless,
+afforded no screen for the brave little mother. Look when one might, in
+the hottest sunshine or the heaviest rain, there sat the bird quite up
+out of the nest, head erect and eyes eagerly watching for intruders. The
+pewee, for all his tender and melancholy utterances, has a fiery spirit.
+He hesitates not to clinch with a brother pewee, interpolates his
+sweetest call into the hot chases, and even when resting between
+encounters, spreads his tail, flutters his wings, and erects his crest
+in a most warlike manner. The little dame was not a whit less vigilant
+than her spouse. Let but a blackbird pass over and she was off in a
+twinkling, pursuing him, pouncing down upon him savagely, and all the
+time uttering her plaintive "pe-o-wee!" till her mate joined her, and
+made it so uncomfortable for the big foe that he departed, protesting to
+be sure in vigorous black-birdese, but taking good care to go. So
+persistent were the pewees in these efforts, that in a few days they
+convinced a pair of blackbirds (purple crow blackbirds) that this part
+of the grove was no longer a thoroughfare, and whereas they had been
+quite frequent visitors, they were now rarely seen.
+
+The saucy robin who chose to insist upon his right to alight on their
+tree, as he had always done, was harder to convince; in fact, he never
+was driven away. Every day, and many times a day, arose the doleful cry
+of distress. I always looked over from my seat on the other side of the
+little open spot in the wood, and invariably saw a robin on the lower
+part of the wild-cherry where the trunk divided, flirting his tail,
+jerking his wings, and looking very wicked indeed. Down upon him came
+one, sometimes two pewees. He simply ran up the sloping branch toward
+their nest, hopped to another limb, every step bringing him nearer, the
+pewees darting frantically at him--and at last took flight from the
+other side; but not until he was quite ready. This drama was enacted
+with clock-like regularity, neither party seeming to tire of its
+repetition, till the happy day when the pewee baby could fly, and
+appeared across the grove, near me.
+
+One morning I noticed the anxious parents very busy on a small oak-tree,
+but a clump of leaves made a perfect hiding place for the infant, and I
+could not see it at first. There may have been more, although I saw but
+one and heard but one baby cry, a prolonged but very low sound of pewee
+quality. While their charge lingered so near me, I was treated to
+another sensation by one of the pair,--a pewee song. The performer
+alighted almost directly over my head, and began at once to sing in a
+very sweet voice, but so low it could not be heard a dozen feet away.
+There was little variation in the tones, but it was rapidly delivered,
+with longer and shorter intervals and varying inflections, a genuine
+whisper-song such as most birds that I have studied delight in. It did
+not please madam, his mate; she listened, looked, and then rushed at the
+singer, and I regret to say, they fell into a "scrimmage" in the grass,
+quite after the vulgar manner of the sparrow.
+
+They soon returned to their duty of feeding the baby behind the oak leaf
+screen. Both came very nearly at the same time; each one on arriving,
+administered a significant "poke" behind the leaf, then indulged in
+several eccentric movements in their jerky style, dashed after a fly,
+stood a full minute staring at me, and at last flew. This programme was
+scarcely varied. Inoffensive as I was, however, the birds plainly did
+not relish my spying upon them, and when I returned from luncheon, they
+had removed their infant. For a day or two, I heard on the farther side
+of the grove the sweet, mournful "pe-o-wee" with which this bird
+proclaims the passage of another insect to its fate, and then it was
+gone, and I saw and heard them no more.
+
+One morning I rose at dawn and seated myself behind my blind to spy upon
+the doings of the early risers. On this particular morning I first
+heard the tender notes of "the darling of children and bards"--the
+bluebird baby. The cry was almost constant; it was urgent and clamorous
+beyond anything I ever heard from "April's bird." I even doubted the
+author till I saw him. The thin and worn looking mother who had him in
+charge worked without ceasing, while the open-mouthed infant lifted up
+his voice and wept in a way so petulant and persistent as to completely
+disguise its sweet bluebird quality. Now this charming youngster,
+bearing heaven's color on his wings, with speckled bib and
+shoulder-cape, and honest, innocent eyes, is a special favorite with me;
+I never before saw a cry-baby in the family, and I did not lose sight of
+him. Three or four days passed in which the pair frequently came about,
+but without the father or any other young ones. Had there been an
+accident and were these the survivors? Was the troublesome brawler a
+spoiled "only child"? All questions were settled by the appearance
+somewhat later of three other young bluebirds who were not cry-babies.
+The father had evidently shaken off the trammels of domestic life, and
+"gone for his holiday" into the grove, where his encounters with the
+pewees kept up a little excitement for him.
+
+When the pitiful looking little dame had succeeded in shaking off her
+ne'er-do-well, the four little ones came every day on the lawn
+together. Sometimes the mother came near to see how they prospered, but
+oftener they were alone. They cried no more; they ran about in the
+grass, and if one happened upon a fat morsel, the three others crowded
+around him and asked in pretty baby fashion for a share. Often they went
+to the fence, or the lower bar of the grape trellis, and there stood
+pertly erect, with head leaning a little forward, as though pondering
+some of the serious problems of bluebird life, but in fact concerning
+themselves only with the movements in the grass, as now and then a
+sudden plunge proved. Sometimes one of the group appeared alone on the
+ground, when no person was about (except behind the blinds), and then he
+talked with himself for company, a very charming monologue in the
+inimitable bluebird tone, with modifications suggesting that a new and
+wonderful song was possible to him. He was evidently too full of joy to
+keep still.
+
+The English sparrow, who had usurped the martin house in the yard,
+warned him off; the tiny golden warbler, who flitted about the shrubbery
+all day, threatened to annihilate him, but with infantile innocence he
+refused to understand hostility; he stared at his assailant, and he held
+his ground. The little flock of four was captivating to see, and though
+the mother looked ragged and careless in dress, one could but honor the
+little creature who had made the world so delightful a gift as four
+beautiful new bluebirds, in whose calm eyes
+
+  "Shines the peace of all being without cloud."
+
+Other young birds were plentiful in those warm July days. From morning
+till night the chipping sparrow baby, with fine streaked breast, uttered
+his shrill cricket-like trill. No doubt he had already found out that he
+would get nothing in this world without asking, so, in order that
+nothing escape him, his demand was constant. The first broods of English
+sparrows had long before united in a mob, and established themselves in
+the grove, and the nests were a second time full of gaping infants
+calling ever for more. The energies of even this unattractive bird were
+so severely taxed that he spared us his comments on things in general,
+and our affairs in particular. In the wood, young high-holes thrust
+their heads out of the door and called; blackbird and martin babies flew
+over with their parents, talking eagerly all the way; barn swallow
+nestlings crowded up to the window-sill to look out and be fed by
+passing mothers; and cautious young kingbirds, in black caps, dressed
+their feathers on the edge of the nest.
+
+But days hurried on; before long, young birds were as big as their
+fathers and had joined the ranks of the grown-ups. There were no more
+babies left on tree or lawn, and holiday time was over.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+IN SEARCH OF THE BLUEJAY.
+
+
+"The grass grows up to the front door, and the forest comes down to the
+back; it's the end of the road, and the woods are full of bluejays."
+
+Such was the siren song that lured me to a certain nook on the side of
+the highest mountain in Massachusetts one June. The country was
+gloriously green and fresh and young, as if it had just been created.
+From my window I looked down the valley beginning between Greylock and
+Ragged Mountain, and winding around other and (to me) nameless hills
+till lost in the distance, apparently cut square off by what looked like
+an unbroken chain from east to west. The heavy forests which covered the
+hills ended in steep grass-covered slopes, with dashing and hurrying
+mountain brooks between, and, save the road, scarcely a trace of man was
+seen.
+
+The birds were already there. The robin came on to the rail fence, and
+with rain pouring off his sleek coat, bade us "Be cheery! be cheery!"
+the bluebird sat silent and motionless on a fence post; the "veery's
+clarion" rang out all the evening from the valley below; many little
+birds sang and called; and
+
+  "The gossip of swallows filled all the sky."
+
+But the bluejays?
+
+The bluejays, too, were there. One saucily flirted his tail at me from
+the top of a tree; another sly rogue flaunted his blue robes over a wall
+and disappeared the other side; a third shrieked in my face and slipped
+away behind a tree; but one and all were far too wise to reveal their
+domestic secrets. I knew mysteries were on foot among them, as we know
+little folk are in mischief by their unnatural stillness, but I knew
+also that not until every jay baby was out of the nest, and there was
+nothing to hide, should I see that cunning bird in his usual noisy,
+careless role.
+
+The peculiarity of that particular corner of nature's handiwork was that
+any way you went you had to climb, except east, where you might roll if
+you chose; in fact, you could hardly do otherwise. The first day of my
+hunt I started west. I climbed a hill devoted to pasture, passed through
+the bars, and faced my mountain. It presented a compact front of
+spruce-trees closely interlaced at the ground, and of course impassable.
+But a way opened in the midst, the path of a mountain brook, deserted
+now and dry. I sought an alpenstock. I abandoned all impedimenta. I
+started up that stony path escorted on each side by a close rank of
+spruce. It was exceedingly steep, for the way of a brook on this
+mountain-side is a constant succession of falls. I scrambled over rocks;
+I stumbled on rolling stones; I "caught" on twigs and dead branches; I
+crept under fallen tree trunks; the way grew darker and more winding.
+How merrily had the water rushed down this path, so hard to go up! How
+easy for it to do so again! Nothing seemed so natural. I began to look
+and listen for it.
+
+A mysterious reluctance to penetrating the heart of the mountain by this
+unknown and strangely hewn path stole over me. I felt like an intruder.
+Who could tell what the next turn might reveal? On a fallen trunk that
+barred my way I seated myself to rest. The silence was oppressive; not a
+bird called, not a squirrel chattered, not an insect hummed. The whole
+forest was one vast, deep, overwhelming solitude. I felt my slightest
+rustle an impertinence; I could not utter a sound; surely the spirit of
+the wood was near! A strange excitement, almost amounting to terror,
+possessed me. I turned and fled--that is to say, crept--down my steep
+and winding stair, back to the bars where I had taken leave of
+civilization (in the shape of one farmhouse).
+
+Here I paused, and again the legend of bluejays allured me. From the
+bars, turning sharply to one side, were the tracks of cows. The strange
+feeling of oppression vanished. Wherever the gentle beasts had passed, I
+could go, sure of finding sunny openings, grassy spots, and nothing
+uncanny. Meekly I followed in their footsteps; the solemn grandeur of
+the forest had so stirred me that even the footprint of a cow was
+companionable.
+
+This path led down through a pleasant fringe of beech and birch and
+maple trees to a beautiful brook, which was easily crossed on stones,
+then up the bank on the other side into an open pasture with scattering
+spruce and other trees. Now I began to look for my bluejays. I disturbed
+the peace of a robin, who scolded me roundly from the top spire of a
+spruce. I started out in hot haste a dainty bit of bird life--the black
+and yellow warbler. I listened to the delightsome song of the
+field-sparrow. I heard the far-off drumming of the partridge. I walked
+and climbed myself tired.
+
+Then I sat down to wait. I made a nosegay of blue violets and sweetbrier
+leaves; I regaled myself with wintergreens in memory of my childhood; I
+wrote up my note-book; but never a blue feather did I see.
+
+The next day, between showers, I tried the north, with a guide--a
+visiting Massachusetts ornithologist--to show me a partridge nest with
+the bird sitting. We followed the ups and downs of the road for a mile,
+passing a meadow full of bobolinks,
+
+  "Bubbling rapturously, madly,"
+
+climbed by a grass-grown wood road a mountain-side pasture, and reached
+the forest. Under a dead spruce sat my lady, in a snug bed among the
+fallen leaves. She was wet; her lovely mottled plumage was disarranged
+and draggled, but her head was drawn down into her feathers in patient
+endurance, the mother love triumphant over everything, even fear. We
+stood within six feet of the shy creature; we discussed her courage in
+the face of the human monsters we felt ourselves to be. Not a feather
+fluttered, not an eyelid quivered; truly it was the perfect love that
+casteth out fear.
+
+My guide went on up to the top of Greylock; I turned back to pursue my
+search.
+
+Eastward was my next trip, down toward the brook that made a valley
+between Greylock and Ragged Mountain. My path was under the edge of the
+woods that fringed a mountain stream. Not the smallest of the debt we
+owe the bonny brook is that it wears a deep gully, whose precipitous
+sides are clothed with a thick growth of waving trees--beech, white and
+black birches, maple, and chestnut--in refreshing and delightful
+confusion. The stream babbled and murmured at my side as I walked slowly
+down, peering in every bush for nests, and at last I parted the branches
+like a curtain and stepped within. It was a cool green solitude, a
+shrine, one of nature's most enchanting nooks, sacred to dreams and
+birds and--woodchucks, one of which sat straight up and looked solemnly
+at me out of his great brown eyes.
+
+I sat on the low-growing limb of a tree, and was rocked by the wind
+outside. I forgot my object. What did it matter that I should find my
+bluejay? Was it worth while to go on? Was anything worth while, indeed,
+except to dream and muse, lulled by the music of the "laughing water"?
+Ah! if one were a poet!
+
+Then the birds came. A cat-bird first, with witching low song, eying me
+closely with that calm, dark eye of his, the while he poured it out from
+a shrub,
+
+  "Like dripping water falling slow
+  Round mossy rooks, in music rare;"
+
+a vireo, repeating over and over his few notes in tireless warble; high
+up in the maple across the chasm, a sweet-voiced goldfinch singing his
+soul away outside; and lastly, a robin, who broke the charm by a
+peremptory demand to know my business in his private quarters. I rose
+to leave him in possession. In rising I disturbed another resident, a
+red squirrel, who ran out on a branch and delivered as vehement a piece
+of mind as I ever heard, stamping his little feet and jerking his bushy
+tail with every word, scolding all over, to the tip of his longest hair.
+
+I left them in their green paradise. I went to my room. I sat down in my
+rocker to consider.
+
+Then the winds got up. Through the "bellows pipe," as they suggestively
+call the head of the valley, there poured such a gale that the birds
+could hardly hold on to their perches. All day long it tossed the
+branches, tore off leaves, beat the birds, rattled the windows, and
+filled the blue cover to our green bowl of a valley with clouds, even
+half way down the sides of the mountains themselves. And at last they
+began to weep, and I spent my twilight by an open window, wrapped in a
+shawl, listening to the
+
+  "Unrivaled one, the hermit-thrush,
+  Solitary, singing in the west,"
+
+and looking out upon the hills, where I still hoped to find my bluejay.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+IN THE WOOD LOT.
+
+
+"There's blue jays a-plenty up in the wood lot," said the farmer's boy,
+hearing me lament my unsuccessful search for that wily bird. "There's
+one pair makes an awful fuss every time I passes."
+
+I immediately offered to accompany the youth on his next trip up the
+mountain, where he was engaged in dragging down to our level, sunshine
+and summer breezes, winter winds and pure mountain air, in the shape of
+the bodies of trees, whose noble heads were laid low by the axes last
+winter. One hundred and fifty cords of beauty, the slow work of
+unnumbered years, brought down to "what base uses"! the most beautiful
+of nature's productions degraded to the lowest service--to fry our bacon
+and bake our pies!
+
+The farmer did not look upon it exactly in that way; he called it
+"cord-wood," and his oxen dragged it down day by day. The point of view
+makes such a difference!
+
+The road that wound down through the valley, skirting its hills,
+bridging its brooks, and connecting the lonely homestead with the rest
+of the human world, had on one side a beautiful border of all sorts of
+greeneries, just as Nature, with her inimitable touch, had placed them.
+It was a home and a cover for small birds; it was a shade on a warm day;
+it was a delight to the eye at all times. Yet in the farmer's eye it was
+"shiftless" (the New Englander's bogy). The other side of the road he
+had "improved;" it gloried in what looked at a little distance like a
+single-file procession of glaring new posts, which on approaching were
+found to be the supports of one of man's neighborly devices--barbed
+wire. Rejoicing in this work of his hands on the left, he longed to turn
+his murderous weapons against the right side. He was labored with; he
+bided his time; but I knew in my heart that whoever went there next
+summer would find that picturesque road bristling with barbed wire on
+both sides. It will be as ugly as man can make it, but it will be "tidy"
+(New England's shibboleth), for no sweet green thing will grow up beside
+it. Nature doesn't take kindly to barbed wire.
+
+The old stone wall at that time was an irresistible invitation to the
+riotous luxuriance of vines. Elder-bushes, with their fine cream-colored
+blossoms, hung lovingly over it; blackberry bushes, lovely from their
+snowy flowering to their rich autumn foliage, flourished beside it; and
+a thousand and one exquisite, and to me nameless, green things hung upon
+it, and leaned against it, and nearly covered it up. And what a garden
+of delight nestled in each protected corner of an old-fashioned zigzag
+fence! Yet all these are under the ban--"shiftless."
+
+Thanks be to the gods who sowed this country so full of stones and
+trees, that the army of farmers who have worried the land haven't
+succeeded in turning it into the abomination of desolation they admire!
+
+And now, having relieved my mind, I'll go on with the bluejay hunt.
+
+The next morning it was, for a rarity, fine. I started up the wood road
+ahead of my guide, so that I might take my climb as easily as such a
+thing can be taken. Passing through the bare pasture, I entered the
+outlying clumps of spruce which form the advance-guard of the forests on
+Greylock, and here my leader overtook me, urging his fiery steeds, with
+their empty sled. Now horned beasts have had a certain terror for me
+ever since an exciting experience with them in my childhood. I stood
+respectfully on one side, prepared to fly should the "critters" (local)
+show malicious intent. On they came, looking at me sharply with wicked
+eyes. I made ready for a rush, when, lo! they turned from me, and
+dashed madly into a spruce-tree, nearly upsetting themselves, and
+threatening to run away. We were all afraid of each other.
+
+The mortified driver apologized for their behavior on the ground that
+"they ain't much used to seeing a lady up in the wood lot." I generously
+forgave them, and then meekly followed in their footsteps, up, up, up
+toward the clouds, till we reached the bluejay neighborhood. Here we
+parted. My escort passed on still higher, and I seated myself to see at
+last my bluejays.
+
+Dead silence around me. Not a leaf stirred; not a bird peeped. I began
+to make a noise myself--calls and imitations (feeble) of bird-notes to
+arouse their curiosity; a bluejay is a born investigator. No sign of
+heaven's color appeared except in the patches of sky between the leaves.
+
+Other wood dwellers came; a rose-breasted grosbeak, with lovely rosy
+shield, with much posturing and many sharp "clicks," essayed to find out
+what manner of irreverent intruder this might be. Later his modest
+gray-clad spouse joined him. They circled around to view the wonder on
+all sides. They exchanged dubious-sounding opinions. They were as little
+"used to seeing a lady" as the oxen. They slipped away, and in a moment
+I heard his rich song from afar.
+
+No one else paid the slightest attention to my coaxing, and I returned
+by easy stages to the spruces, where I had the misfortune to arouse the
+suspicion of a robin. Do you know what it is to be under robin
+surveillance? Let but one redbreast take it into his obstinate little
+head that you are a suspicious character, and he mounts the nearest
+tree--the very top twig, in plain sight--and begins his loud "Peep!
+peep! tut, tut, tut! Peep! peep! tut, tut, tut!"
+
+This is his tocsin of war, and soon his allies appear, and then
+
+  "From the north, from the east, from the south and the west,
+     Woodland, wheat field, corn field, clover,
+     Over and over, and over and over,
+     Five o'clock, ten o'clock, twelve, or seven,
+     Nothing but robin-calls heard under heaven."
+
+No matter what you do or what you don't do. One will perch on each side
+of you, and join the maddening chorus, driving every bird in the
+neighborhood either to join in the hue and cry (as do some of the
+sparrows), or to hide himself from the monster that has been discovered.
+
+I tried to tire them out by sitting absolutely motionless; but three,
+who evidently had business in the vicinity, for each held a mouthful of
+worms, guarded me to right and left and in front, and never ceased
+their offensive remarks long enough to stuff those worms into the mouths
+waiting for them.
+
+I was not able to convince them that I had no designs on robin
+households, and I had to own myself defeated again. Then and there I
+abandoned the search for the bluejay.
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE BLUEJAY BABY.
+
+
+My time of triumph came, however, a little later. Birds may securely
+hide their nests, but they cannot always silence their nestlings. So
+soon as little folk find their voices, whether their dress be feathers,
+or furs, or French cambric, they are sure to make themselves heard and
+seen.
+
+One morning, two or three weeks after I had given up the bluejay search,
+and consoled myself with looking after baby cat-birds and thrushes, I
+started out as usual for a walk. I turned naturally into a favorite path
+beside a brook that danced down the mountain below the house. It was
+near the bottom of a deep gully, where I had come to grief in my search
+for a veery baby.
+
+As I passed slowly up, looking well to my steps, and listening for
+birds, I heard a note that aroused me at once,--the squawk of a bluejay.
+It came from the higher ground, and I looked about for a pathway up the
+steep bank on my right. At the most promising point I could select I
+started my climb. Unfortunately that very spot had been already chosen
+by a small rill, a mere trickle of water, to come down. It was not big
+enough to make itself a channel and keep to it, but it sprawled all over
+the land. Now it lingered in the cows' footprints and made a little
+round pool of each; then it loitered on a level bit of ground, and
+soaked it full; when it reached a comfortable bed between the roots of
+trees, it almost decided to stay and be a pond, and it dallied so long
+before it found a tiny opening and straggled out, that if it did not
+result in a pond, it did accomplish a treacherous quagmire. In fact that
+undecided, feeble-minded streamlet totally "demoralized" the whole
+hillside, and with its vagaries I had to contend at every step of my
+way.
+
+I reached the top, but I left deep footprints to be turned into pools of
+a new pattern, and as trophy I carried away some of the soil on my
+dress. Of my shoes I will not speak; shall we not have souls above
+shoe-leather?
+
+As soon as I recovered breath after my hasty scramble to dry ground, I
+started toward a thick-growing belt of spruce trees which came down from
+the mountain and ended in a point,--one tree in advance, like the leader
+of an army. Here I found the bird I was seeking, a much disturbed
+bluejay, who met me at the door--so to speak--with a defiant squawk, a
+warning to come no nearer.
+
+"Ah ha!" said I, exultingly, "are your little folk in there? Then I
+shall see them."
+
+I slowly advanced; she disputed my passage at every step, but nothing
+was to be seen till her anxiety got the better of her discretion and she
+herself gave me the precious secret; she suddenly slipped through the
+trees to the other side, and became perfectly silent.
+
+I could not follow her path through the tangle of trees, but I could go
+around, and I did. On a dead spruce wedged in among the living ones I
+saw the object of her solicitude; a lovely sight it was! Two young
+bluejays huddled close together on a twig. They were "humped up," with
+heads drawn down into their shoulders, and breast feathers fluffed out
+like snowy-white floss silk, completely covering their feet and the
+perch. No wonder that poor little mother was anxious, for a more
+beautiful pair I never saw, and to see them was to long to take them in
+one's hands.
+
+Silent and patient little fellows they appeared, looking at me with
+innocent eyes, but showing no fear. They were a good deal more concerned
+about something to eat, and when their mother came they reminded her by
+a low peep that they were still there. She gave them nothing; she was
+too anxious to get them out of my sight, and she disappeared behind a
+thick branch.
+
+In a moment I heard the cry of a bird I could not see. So also did the
+twins on the tree, and to them it meant somebody being fed; they lifted
+their little wings, spread out like fans their short beautiful tails,
+and by help of both, half hopped, half flew through the branches to the
+other side.
+
+I followed, by the roundabout way again, and then I saw another one.
+Three bonny bairns in blue were on that dead spruce tree; two close
+together as before, and the third--who seemed more lively--sitting
+alone. He lifted his crest a little, turned his head and looked squarely
+at me, but seeing nothing to alarm him--wise little jay!--did not move.
+Then again mamma came forward, and remonstrated and protested, but only
+by her one argument, a squawk.
+
+I quietly sat down and tried to make myself as much a part of the bank
+as possible, for I wanted the distracted dame in blue to go on with her
+household duties, and feed those babies. After a while she did calm down
+a little, though she kept one distrustful eye on me, and now and then
+came near and delivered a squawk at me, as if to assure me that she saw
+through my manoeuvres, and despised them.
+
+But I cared not at that moment for her opinion of me; she did not move
+my sympathies as do many birds, for she appeared insulted and angry, not
+in the least afraid. I wanted to see her feed, and at last I
+did--_almost_; she was to the last too sharp for me.
+
+She came with a mouthful of food. Each one of the three rose on his
+sturdy little legs, fluttered his wings, opened his beak and cried. It
+was a sort of whispered squawk, which shows that the bluejay is a wary
+bird even in the cradle. When they were all roused and eager, the mother
+used that morsel as a bait to coax them through the tree again. She did
+not give it to either of her petitioners, but she moved slowly from
+branch to branch, holding it before them, and as one bird they followed,
+led by their appetite, like bigger folk,--
+
+  "Three souls with but a single thought,
+  Three hearts that beat as one!"
+
+and as I had no desire to see them die of starvation, and leave the
+world so much poorer in beauty, I came away and left them to their
+repast.
+
+That was not the end of the bluejay episode. A few days later a young
+bird, perhaps one of this very trio, set out by himself in search of
+adventures. Into the wide-open door of the barn he flew, probably to see
+for what the swallows were flying out and in. Alas for that curious
+young bird! He was noticed by the farmer's boy, chased into a corner,
+still out of breath from his first flight, then caught, thrust into an
+old canary cage, brought to the house, and given to the bird-student.
+
+Poor little creature! he was dumb with fright, though he was not
+motionless. He beat himself against the wires and thrust his beak
+through the openings, in vain efforts to escape. We looked at him with
+great interest, but we had not the heart to keep him very long. In a few
+minutes he was taken out of the cage in a hand (which he tried to bite),
+carried to the door and set free.
+
+Away like a flash went the little boy blue and alighted in a tree beside
+the house. For a few moments he panted for breath, and then he opened
+his mouth to tell the news to whom it might concern. In rapid succession
+he uttered half a dozen jay-baby squawks, rested a moment, then repeated
+them, hopping about the tree in great excitement.
+
+In less than thirty seconds his cries were answered. A bluejay appeared
+on the barn; another was seen in a spruce close by; three came to a tall
+tree across the road; and from near and far we heard the calls of
+friends trooping to the rescue.
+
+Meanwhile the birds of the neighborhood, where the squawk of a jay was
+seldom heard, began to take an interest in this unusual gathering. Two
+cedar birds, with the policy of peace which their Quaker garb suggests,
+betook themselves to a safe distance, a cat-bird went to the tree to
+interview the clamorous stranger, a vireo made its appearance on the
+branches, and followed the big baby in blue from perch to perch, looking
+at him with great curiosity, while a veery uttered his plaintive cry
+from the fence below.
+
+All this attention was too much for a bluejay, who always wants plenty
+of elbow room in this wide world. He flew off towards the woods, where,
+after a proper interval to see that no more babies were in trouble, he
+was followed by his grown-up relatives from every quarter. But I think
+they had a convention to talk it over, up in the woods, for squawks and
+cries of many kinds came from that direction for a long time.
+
+
+
+
+IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY.
+
+  Where shall we keep the holiday?
+
+  Up and away! where haughty woods
+  Front the liberated floods:
+  We will climb the broad-backed hills,
+  Hear the uproar of their joy;
+  We will mark the leaps and gleams
+  Of the new-delivered streams,
+  And the murmuring river of sap
+  Mount in the pipes of the trees.
+
+  And the colors of joy in the bird
+  And the love in his carol heard.
+  Frog and lizard in holiday coats,
+  And turtle brave in his golden spots.
+
+  EMERSON.
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+THAT WITCHING SONG.
+
+
+A year or two before setting up my tent in the Black River Country,
+began my acquaintance with the author of the witching song.
+
+The time was evening; the place, the veranda of a friend's summer
+cottage at Lake George. The vireo and the redstart had ceased their
+songs; the cat-bird had flirted "good-night" from the fence; even the
+robin, last of all to go to bed, had uttered his final peep and vanished
+from sight and hearing; the sun had gone down behind the mountains
+across the lake, and I was listening for the whippoorwill who lived at
+the edge of the wood to take up the burden of song and carry it into the
+night.
+
+Suddenly there burst upon the silence a song that startled me. It was
+loud and distinct as if very near, yet it had the spirit and the echoes
+of the woods in it; a wild, rare, thrilling strain, the woods themselves
+made vocal. Such it seemed to me. I was strangely moved, and filled from
+that moment with an undying determination to trace that witching song to
+the bird that could utter it.
+
+"I'm going to seek my singer," was the message I flung back next
+morning, as, opera-glass in hand, I started down the orchard towards the
+woods. I followed the path under the apple-trees, passed the daisy
+field, white from fence to fence with beauty,--despair of the farmer,
+but delight of the cottagers,--hurried across the pasture beyond,
+skirting the little knoll on which the cow happened this morning to be
+feeding, crossed the brook on a plank, and reached my daily walk.
+
+This was a broad path that ran for half a mile on the edge of the lake.
+Behind it, penetrated every now and then by a foot-path, was the bit of
+old woods that the clearers of this land had the grace to leave, to
+charm the eye and refresh the soul (though probably not for that
+reason). Before it stretched the clear, sparkling waters of Lake George,
+and on the other side rose abruptly one of the beautiful mountains that
+fringe that exquisite piece of water.
+
+Usually I passed half the morning here, seated on one of the rocks that
+cropped out everywhere, filling my memory with pictures to take home
+with me. But to-day I could not stay. I entered one of the paths, passed
+into the grand, silent woods, found a comfortable seat on a bed of pine
+needles, with the trunk of a tall maple tree for a back, and prepared
+to wait. I would test Thoreau's assertion that if one will sit long
+enough in some attractive spot in the woods, sooner or later every
+inhabitant of it will pass before him. I had confidence in Thoreau's
+woodcraft, for has not Emerson said:--
+
+  "What others did at distance hear,
+    And guessed within the thicket's gloom,
+  Was shown to this philosopher,
+    And at his bidding seemed to come"?
+
+and I resolved to sit there till I should see my bird. I was confident I
+should know him: a wild, fearless eye, I was sure, a noble bearing, a
+dweller on the tree-tops.
+
+Alas! I forgot one phrase in Thoreau's statement: "sooner or _later_."
+No doubt the Concord hermit was a true prophet; but how many of the
+inhabitants are "later"--too late, indeed, for a mortal who, unlike our
+New England philosopher, has such weak human needs as food and rest, and
+whose back will be tired in spite of her enthusiasm, if she sits a few
+hours on a rock, with a tree for a back.
+
+Many of the sweet and shy residents of that lovely bit of wildness
+showed themselves while I waited. A flicker, whose open door was in
+sight, and who was plainly engaged in setting her house in order,
+entertained me for a long time. Silently she stole in, I did not see
+how. Her first appearance to me was on the trunk, the opposite side
+from her nest, whence she slid, or so it looked, in a series of jerks to
+her door, paused a few minutes on the step to look sharply at me, and
+then disappeared, head first, within. Quick as a jack-in-the-box, her
+head popped out again to see if the spy had moved while she had been out
+of sight, and finding all serene, she threw herself with true feminine
+energy into her work. The beak-loads she brought to the door and flung
+out seemed so insufficient that I longed to lend her a broom; but I
+found she had a better helper than that, a partner.
+
+When she tired, or thought she had earned a rest, she came out, and
+flying to the limb above the nest, began softly calling. Never was the
+ventriloquial quality more plainly exhibited. I heard that low "ka! ka!
+ka! ka! ka!" long repeated, and I looked with interest in every
+direction to see the bird appear. For a long time I did not suspect the
+sly dame so quietly resting on the branch, and when I did it was only by
+the closest inspection that I discovered the slight jerk of the tail,
+the almost imperceptible movement of the beak, that betrayed her.
+
+Another as well as I heard that call, and he responded. He was exactly
+like her, with the addition of a pair of black "mustachios," and it may
+be she told him that the strange object under the maple had not moved
+for half an hour, and was undoubtedly some new device of man's, made of
+wood perhaps, for he did not hesitate on the door-step, but plunged in
+at once, and devoted himself to the business in hand, clearing out,
+while she vanished.
+
+But though I watched this domestic scene with pleasure, and saw and
+noted every feather that appeared about me, the tree-tops had my closest
+attention, for there I was certain I should find my rare singer. Hours
+passed, the shadows grew long, and sadly and slowly I took my way
+homewards, wishing I had a charm against fatigue, mosquitoes, and other
+terrors of the night, and could stay out till he came.
+
+All through the month of June I haunted that wood, seeking the unknown.
+Every evening I heard him, but no sight came to gladden my eyes. I grew
+almost to believe it merely "a wandering voice," and I went home with my
+longing unsatisfied.
+
+When next the month of roses came around, I betook myself to a spur of
+the Hoosac Mountains to see my birds. The evening of my arrival, as the
+twilight gathered, rose the call of my witching voice.
+
+"What bird is that?" I demanded, with the usual result; no one knew. (A
+chapter might be written on the ignorance of country people of their
+own birds and plants. A chapter, did I say? A book, a dozen books, the
+country is full of material.)
+
+"I shall find that bird," I said, "if I stay a year." In the morning I
+set out. The song had come from the belt of trees that hang lovingly
+over a little stream on its merry way down the mountain, and thither I
+turned my steps. Now, my hostess had a drove of twenty cows, wild,
+head-tossing creatures,--"Holsteins" they were,--and having half a dozen
+pastures, they were changed about from day to day. Driving them every
+morning was almost as exciting as the stampede of a drove of horses, and
+it seemed as if they could never reconcile themselves to the
+idiosyncrasies of the American woman. The pasture where they were shut
+for the day was as sacred from my foot as if it were filled with mad
+dogs. My mere appearance near the fence was a signal for a headlong race
+to the spot to see what on earth I was doing now.
+
+I went into the field, looking cautiously about, and satisfying myself
+that the too curious foreigners were not within sight, found a
+comfortable seat on a bank overlooking the whole beautiful view of the
+brook and its waving green borders, and commanding the approach to my
+side of the field.
+
+This time again my mysterious singer proved to be among the "later"
+ones, and after spending an hour or two there, I rose to go back, when
+in passing a thick-growing evergreen tree, I saw that I had created a
+panic. There was a flutter of wings, there were cries, and on the tree,
+in plain sight, the towhee bunting and his brown-clad spouse. Of course
+there must be some reason for this reckless display; I sought the cause,
+and found a nest, a mere depression in the ground, and one sorry-looking
+youngster, the sole survivor of the perils of the situation. Over that
+one nestling they were as concerned as the proverbial hen with one
+chicken, and they flitted about in distress while I looked at their
+half-fledged bantling, and hoped it was a singer to ring the delightful
+silver-toned tremolo that had charmed me that morning.
+
+That evening, listening on the piazza to the usual twilight chorus, the
+wood-thrush far-off, the towhee from the pasture, the robins all around,
+I heard suddenly the "quee-o" of a bird I knew, so near that I started,
+and my eyes fell directly upon him, standing on the lowest limb of a
+dead tree, not ten feet from me.
+
+He was so near I did not need my glass, nor indeed did I dare move a
+finger, lest he take flight. Several times he uttered his soft call, and
+then, while my eyes were fastened upon him, he began quivering with
+excitement, his wings lifted a little, and in a clear though low tone
+he uttered the long-sought song. I held my breath, and he repeated it,
+each time lower than before. Even at that distance it sounded far off,
+and doubtless many times in the woods, when I looked for it afar, it may
+have been over my head.
+
+A long time--how long I cannot guess--that beautiful bird sat and sang
+his witching evening hymn, while I listened spellbound.
+
+It was the tawny thrush,--the veery.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE VEERY MOTHER.
+
+
+My next interview with the veery family took place the following June,
+at the foot of Mount Greylock, in Massachusetts. I had just returned
+from a walk down the meadow, put on wrapper and slippers, and
+established myself by the window to write some letters. Pen, ink, paper,
+and all the accessories were spread out before me. I dipped my pen in
+the ink and wrote "My Dear," when a sound fell upon my ears: it was the
+cry of a young bird! it was new to me! it had a veery ring!
+
+Away went my good resolutions, and my pen with them; papers flew to
+right and left; hither and thither scattered the letters I had meant to
+answer. I snatched my glass, seized my hat as I passed, and was
+outdoors. In the open air the call sounded louder, and plainly came from
+the borders of the brook that with its fringe of trees divides the yard
+from the pasture beyond. It was a two-syllabled utterance like "quee
+wee," but it had the intermitted or tremolo sound that distinguishes the
+song of the tawny thrush from others. I could locate the bird almost to
+a twig, but nobody cared if I could. It was on the other side of the
+brook and the deep gully through which it ran, and they who had that
+youngster in charge could laugh at me.
+
+But I knew the way up the brookside. I went down the road to the bars,
+crossed the water on stepping-stones, and in a few minutes entered a
+cow-path that wandered up beside the stream. All was quiet; the young
+thrush no doubt had been hushed. They were waiting for me to pass by, as
+I often did, for that was a common walk of mine. On this log I sat one
+day to watch a woodchuck; a little further on was the rock from which I
+had peeped into a robin's nest, where one egg had been alone a week, and
+I never saw a robin near it.
+
+At length I reached the path that ran up the bank where I usually turned
+and went to the pasture, for beyond this the cow-path descended, and
+looked damp and wild, as if it might once have been the way of the cows,
+but now was abandoned. Still all was quiet, and I thought of my letters
+unanswered, of my slippers, and--and I turned to go back.
+
+Just at that moment that unlucky young thrush opened his mouth for a
+cry; the birds had been too sure. I forgot my letters again, and looked
+at the path beyond. I thought I could see a dry way, so I took a step
+or two forward. This was too much! this I had never before done, and I
+believe those birds were well used to my habits, for the moment I passed
+my usual bounds a cry rang out, loud, and a bird flew past my head. She
+alighted near me. It was a tawny thrush; and when one of those shy
+birds, who fly if I turn my head behind the blinds, gets bold, there's a
+good reason for it. I thanked madam for giving me my cue; I knew now it
+was her baby, and I walked slowly on.
+
+I had to go slowly, for the placing of each foot required study. It is
+surprising what a quantity of water will stand on the steep sides of a
+mountain. Some parts of this one were like a marsh, or a saturated
+sponge, and everywhere a cow had stepped was a small pool. As I
+proceeded the thrush grew more and more uneasy. She came so near me that
+I saw she had a gauzy-winged fly in her mouth, another proof that she
+had young ones near. She called, without opening her beak, her usual low
+"quee."
+
+Finding a dry spot, and the baby-cry having ceased, I sat down to
+consider and to wait. Then the bird seemed suddenly to remember how
+compromising her mouthful was, and she planted herself on a branch
+before my eyes, deliberately ate that fly and wiped her beak, as who
+should say, "You thought I was carrying that morsel to somebody, but
+you see I have eaten it myself; there's nothing up that path." But much
+as I respected the dear mother, I did not believe her eloquent
+demonstration. I selected another point where I could stop a minute, and
+picked my way to it. Then all my poor little bird's philosophy deserted
+her; she came close to me, she uttered the greatest variety of cries;
+she almost begged me to believe that she was the only living creature up
+that gully. And so much did she move me, so intolerably brutal did she
+make me feel, that for the second time I was very near to turning back.
+
+But the cry began again. How could I miss so good a chance to see that
+tawny youngster, when I knew I should not lay finger on it? I hardened
+my heart, and struggled a few feet further.
+
+Then some of the neighbors came to see what was the trouble, and if they
+could do anything about it. A black-and-white creeper rose from a low
+bush with a surprised "chit-it-it-it," alighted on a tree and ran glibly
+up the upright branch as though it were a ladder. But a glance at the
+"cause of all this woe" was more than his courage could endure; one cry
+escaped him, and then a streak of black and white passed over the road
+out of sight.
+
+Next came a redstart, himself the head of a family, for he too had his
+beak full of provisions. He was not in the least dismayed; he perched on
+a twig and looked over at me with interest, as if trying to see what the
+veery found so terrifying, and then continued on his way home. A
+snow-bird was the last visitor, and he came nearer and nearer, not at
+all frightened, merely curious, but madam evidently distrusted him, for
+she flew at him, intimating in a way that he plainly understood that
+"his room was better than his company."
+
+Still I floundered on, and now the disturbed mother added a new cry,
+like the bleating of a lamb. I never should have suspected a bird of
+making that sound; it was a perfect "ba-ha-ha." Yet on listening
+closely, I saw that it was the very tremolo that gives the song of the
+male its peculiar thrill. Her "ba-ha-ha," pitched to his tone, and with
+his intervals, would be a perfect reproduction of it. No doubt she could
+sing, and perhaps she does,--who knows?
+
+Now the mother threw in occasionally a louder sort of call-note like
+"pee-ro," which was quickly followed by the appearance of another
+thrush, her mate, I presume. He called, too, the usual "quee-o," but he
+kept himself well out of sight; no reckless mother-love made him lose
+his reason. Still, steadily though slowly, and with many pauses to
+study out the next step, I progressed. The cry, often suppressed for
+minutes at a time, was perceptibly nearer. The bank was rougher than
+ever, but with one scramble I was sure I could reach my prize. I started
+carefully, when a cry rang out sudden and sharp and close at hand. At
+that instant the stone I had put faith in failed me basely and rolled:
+one foot _went in_, a dead twig caught my hair, part of my dress
+remained with the sharp end of a broken branch, I came to one knee (but
+not in a devotional spirit); I struck the ground with one hand and a
+brier-bush with the other, but I did not drop my glass, and I reached my
+goal in a fashion.
+
+I paused to recover my breath and give that youngster, who I was
+persuaded was laughing at me all the time, a chance to lift up his voice
+again. But he had subsided, while the mother was earnest as ever.
+Perhaps I was too near, or had scared him out of his wits by my
+sensational entry. While I was patiently studying every twig on the tree
+from which the last cry had come, the slight flutter of a leaf caught my
+eye, and there stood the long-sought infant himself.
+
+He was a few feet below me. I could have laid my hands upon him, but he
+did not appear to see me, and stood like a statue while I studied his
+points. Mamma, too, was suddenly quiet; either she saw at last that my
+intentions were friendly, or she thought the supreme moment had come,
+and was paralyzed. I had no leisure to look after her; I wanted to make
+acquaintance with her bairn, and I did. He was the exact image of his
+parents; I should have known him anywhere, the same soft, tawny back,
+and light under-parts, but no tail to be seen, and only a dumpy pair of
+wings, which would not bear him very far. The feathers of his side
+looked rough, and not fully out, but his head was lovely and his eye was
+the wild free eye of a veery. I saw the youngster utter his cry. I saw
+him fly four or five feet, and then I climbed the bank, hopeless of
+returning the way I had come, pushed my way between detaining spruces,
+and emerged once more on dry ground. I had been two hours on the trail.
+
+I slipped into the house the back way, and hastened to my room, where I
+counted the cost: slippers ruined, dress torn, hand scratched, toilet a
+general wreck. But I had seen the tawny-thrush baby, and I was happy.
+And it's no common thing to do, either. Does not Emerson count it among
+Thoreau's remarkable feats that
+
+  "All her shows did Nature yield
+  To please and win this pilgrim wise;
+  He found the tawny thrush's brood,
+  And the shy hawk did wait for him"?
+
+
+
+
+XI.
+
+THE TAWNY THRUSH'S BROOD.
+
+
+"He found the tawny thrush's brood," says Emerson, in enumerating the
+special gifts of the nature-lover whose praise he celebrates. Whether
+the reference were to Thoreau or to another "forest-seer," it was
+certainly to a fortunate and happy man, whom I have always envied till I
+learned to find the shy brood myself.
+
+I shall never forget the exciting and blissful moment when I discovered
+my first tawny-thrush nest. It was the crowning event of a long search.
+
+It was not until the fourth year that I had looked for him, that I came
+really to know the bird, to see his family, and last of all his nest. My
+summer abiding-place in the Black River country was very near a bit of
+woods where veeries were plentiful, and I saw them at all hours, and
+under nearly all conditions.
+
+My favorite seat was at the foot of a low-growing tree in the edge of
+the woods, where the branches hung over and almost hid me. From under
+my green screen I could look out into a field golden with buttercups,
+with scattering elms and maples, while behind me was the forest, the
+chosen haunt of this bird. Here, unseen, I listened to his song,--
+
+  "O matchless melody! O perfect art!
+  O lovely, lofty voice unfaltering!"
+
+till my soul was filled with rapture, and a longing to know him in his
+home relations took such possession of me that the world seemed to hold
+but one object of desire, a veery's nest.
+
+Yet though the woods were full of them, so wary and so wise were the
+little builders that not a nest could I find. I studied the descriptions
+in the books; I examined the nests in a collection at hand. The books
+declared, and the specimens confirmed the statement, that the cradle of
+the tawny thrush would be found amid certain surroundings. Many such
+places existed in the woods, and I never passed one without seeking a
+nest; but always unsuccessfully, till, as June days were rapidly
+passing, I came to have a feeling something akin to despair when I heard
+the veery notes.
+
+One day,--it was Sunday afternoon,--I was still grieving over the lost,
+or rather the unfound nest, and my friend was sitting composedly on the
+veranda writing letters, when restlessness seized me, and I resolved to
+take a quiet walk. I sauntered slowly down the road, towards the woods,
+of course; all roads in that charming place led to the woods.
+
+I had nearly reached the "Sunset Corner," where I had a half-formed
+intention of resting and then turning back, when my eyes fell upon--but
+hold! I will not describe it, lest I enlighten one more collector, and
+aid in the robbery, perhaps the death, of one more bird-mother. Suffice
+it to say what I saw resembled, though not perfectly, the surroundings
+of a veery's nest as described in the books.
+
+Of course there could be no nest there, I thought, yet the ruling
+passion asserted itself at once. It would at least do no harm to look. I
+left the path, walked carelessly up to the spot, and looked at it. It
+seemed empty of life; but as I gazed, there gradually took form a head,
+a pair of anxious eyes fixed upon mine, a beak pointed upward, and there
+was my nest! almost at my feet.
+
+Joy and surprise contended within me. I thought not of the mother's
+anxiety; I stood and stared, absolutely paralyzed with delight.
+
+But not for long. I remembered my friend who had not found the tawny
+thrush's nest, and with whom I must instantly share my happiness, and
+carefully marking the locality, not to lose what I had so accidentally
+found, and might so easily lose, I moved quietly away till I reached
+the road. Then I hurried to an opening in the trees from which the house
+could be seen. Here I stopped; the letter-writer looked up. I waved my
+green bough in triumph above my head, and with the other hand I
+beckoned.
+
+"A veery's nest!" she thought at once. Away went paper and pen, and in a
+moment she joined me. Together we stood beside the beautiful sitting
+thrush, so brave, though no doubt suffering from deadly terror. Then we
+slowly walked away, rejoicing. It was so near the house! so easy to
+watch! the bird not at all afraid! All the way home we congratulated
+ourselves.
+
+The next morning our first thought was of the veery's nest, and on
+starting out for the day we turned in that direction. Alas! the old
+story! The nest was overturned and thrown out of place, the leaves were
+trampled; there had evidently been a struggle of some kind. No birds, no
+eggs, not a bit of broken shell--nothing was left, except one dark brown
+spotted feather from a large bird, whether hawk or owl I shall never
+know, for neglecting to take it at the moment, it was gone when I
+thought of it as a witness.
+
+Again the old longing for a nest assailed me; but I was not without
+hope, for I had my hint. I had found out what sort of places the
+veeries in this neighborhood liked. After that I never went into the
+woods, on whatever errand bent, but I kept my eyes open for the chosen
+situation. I examined dozens of promising spots, and I found nests that
+had been used, which proved that I was on the right track, and kept up
+my courage.
+
+It was several days before another tawny-thrush cradle in use gladdened
+our eyes, and this was in a wild part of the woods where we seldom went.
+We were drawn there by the song of a tiny warbler, whose nest my friend
+desired to find, since it was rare; and in passing a thicket of maple
+saplings three feet high, she discovered a nest. She quickly parted the
+leaves and looked in; three young birds opened their mouths for food.
+"Veeries!" she exclaimed, in surprise. "What a strange place!"
+
+This little home rested on a bare dead stick that had fallen and lodged
+in a living branch, and the dead leaves used by veeries in their
+building made it conspicuous, when the eyes happened to fall upon it;
+but it was so well concealed by living branches that one might pass
+fifty times and not see it. I describe this location, for it was very
+unusual.
+
+We looked at the birdlings; we walked on till we came to the place where
+we turned from the path to see the warbler's little domicile. My friend
+passed along. I lingered a moment, for it was a lovely spot, attractive
+to birds as to bird-lovers, and high up in the air on the upturned roots
+of a fallen tree
+
+                   "an elder or two
+  Foamed over with blossoms white as spray."
+
+While I stood there admiring the brave little bush that kept on living
+and blooming, though lifted into an unnatural position by the tree at
+whose feet it had grown, some mysterious drawing made me look closely at
+a spot beside the road which we had passed many times without special
+notice. There I found our third veery nest, the mother bird sitting.
+
+Henceforth, every morning we went up the veery road, and before each
+little nursery we sat us down to watch and study. It was necessary to be
+very quiet, the birds in the saplings were so nervous; but keeping still
+in the woods in summer is not the easy performance it is elsewhere,
+though great are the inducements. From one side comes the chirp of the
+winter wren, from the other, low, excited calls of veeries, and nothing
+but absolute quiet seems necessary to capture some of the charming
+secrets of their lives. Meanwhile a dancing and singing host collects
+around one's head. I call up my philosophy; I resolve not to care,
+though I shall be devoured. My philosophy stands the strain; I do not
+_care_; but my nerves basely fail me, and after a few moments, and a
+dozen stings here and there, I spring involuntarily to my feet, wildly
+flourish my wisp of leaves, and of course put to instant flight the
+actors in the drama before me.
+
+The pair of veeries in the maple bushes were never reconciled to our
+visits. They called and cried in all the varied inflections of their
+sweet voices, and they moved uneasily about on the low branches with
+mouths full of food. But though we were as motionless as circumstances
+would permit, they never learned to trust us.
+
+One--the mother, doubtless--did sometimes pay a flying visit to her
+three darlings under the leaves; but she undoubtedly felt that she took
+her life in her hands (so to speak), and it did not give her courage.
+She returned to her post and cried no less than before. We were not
+heartless; we could not bear to torture the timid creatures, and
+therefore we never stayed very long.
+
+Every day we looked at the growing babies, who passed most of their time
+in sleep, as babies should; and at last came the time, sooner than
+expected, when we found the family had flitted. Nestlings cradled near
+the ground seem to be spared the long period in the nest endured by
+birdlings who must be able to fly before they can safely go. Young
+veeries and bobolinks, song sparrows and warblers, who build low,
+apparently take leave of the nursery as soon they can stand up.
+Thereafter the parents must seek them on the ground; and if the student
+follows their chirps, he will often see the droll little dumpy fellows
+running about or crouched under bushes until their wing feathers shall
+grow and lift them to the bird's world, above the dull earth.
+
+After the exit of the family in the maples, we kept closer watch of the
+remaining nest. Every day we passed it, and not always at the same hour,
+yet never but once did we find the mother away, and seven days after
+that morning, when not one youngster had broken the shell, the family
+was gone.
+
+The young birds in the maples we had seen in the nest for five days
+after they were hatched, so we were forced to believe that either the
+second nest had been robbed, or that the mother had watched for us, and
+flown to cover her babies after they were hatched, till we had paid our
+daily visit and passed on. This latter may be the correct conclusion,
+and if so, her conduct was entirely different from that of any veery I
+have seen.
+
+Whatever cause had emptied the thrush cradle we found no signs of
+disturbance about it, and we heard no lamentations. But we did hear
+from every impenetrable tangle in the woods, the baby-cries of young
+thrushes; and we ventured to hope that no hawk or owl or squirrel, or
+other foe in feathers or in fur, had carried off the nestlings of that
+brave brown-eyed mamma.
+
+
+
+
+XII.
+
+A MEADOW NEST.
+
+
+A bird's nest in the middle of a meadow is as isolated as if on an
+island; for the most eager bird student, though he may look and long
+afar off, will hesitate before he harrows the soul of the owner of the
+fair waving sea of grass by trampling it down. In such a secure place,
+among scattered old apple-trees, a pair of veeries had set up their
+household, surrounded and protected from every enemy who does not wear
+wings.
+
+They were late in nesting, for young veeries were out everywhere.
+Doubtless the first home had been destroyed, and they had selected this
+retreat in the midst of the tall grass for its seclusion and apparent
+safety.
+
+What dismay, then, must have filled the heart of the timid creatures
+when there arrived, one morning, a party of men and horses and machines,
+who proceeded at once, with the clatter and confusion which follows the
+doings of men, to lay low their green protecting walls, and expose their
+cherished treasures to the greed or the cruelty of their worst enemies!
+Not less their surprise and grief when, after the uproar of cutting,
+raking and carrying away their only screen, there entered the silent but
+watchful spies, who planted their stools in plain sight, to take note of
+all their doings.
+
+The nest, with its babies three, was wide open to the sun; no one could
+pass without seeing it. It was in a cluster of shoots growing up from
+the roots of an old apple-tree, and so closely crowded between them that
+its shape was oval.
+
+The nestlings were nearly ready to fly, and I hoped that birds brave
+enough to come out of the woods and build among apple-trees would be
+less afraid of people than the woods dwellers. So when I learned of my
+comrade's discovery I hastened at once to make the acquaintance of this,
+our fourth nesting-veery of the summer.
+
+The parents were absent when I seated myself at some distance from their
+homestead to wait. They soon came, together, with food in their mouths;
+but their eager, happy manner vanished at sight of me, and they
+abandoned themselves to utter despair, after the manner of veeries. They
+stood motionless on neighboring perches, and cried and bewailed the
+anticipated fate of those babies for all of the short time that I was
+able to endure it. A kingbird came to the tree under which I sat, to see
+for himself the terrible bugaboo, and a robin or two, as usual,
+interested themselves in the affairs of a neighbor in trouble.
+
+Thirty minutes proved to be as long as I could bring myself to stay, and
+then I meekly retired to the furthest corner of the field, where I made
+myself as inconspicuous as possible, and hoped I might be allowed to
+remain. Kingbird and robins accepted the compromise and returned to
+their own affairs; but the veeries by turns fed the babies and reviled
+me from a tree near my retreat, till I took pity on their distress and
+left the orchard altogether.
+
+Not only does the veery exhibit this strong liking for solitude, and
+express the loneliness of the woods more perfectly than any other bird,
+with the exception, perhaps, of the wood-pewee; but his calls and cries
+are all plaintive, many of them sensational, and one or two really
+tragic.
+
+His most common utterance, as he flits lightly from branch to branch, is
+a low, sweet "quee-o," sometimes hardly above a whisper. When everything
+is quiet about him one may often hear an extraordinary performance.
+Beginning the usual call of "quee-o," in a tender and mournful tone, he
+will repeat it again and again at short intervals, every time with more
+pathetic inflection, till the wrought-up listener cannot resist the
+feeling that the next sound must be a burst of tears. Although his notes
+seem melancholy to hearers, however, the beautiful bird himself is far
+from expressing that emotion in his manner.
+
+Aside from the enchanting quality of his calls, and the thrilling
+magnetism of his song, the tawny thrush is an exceedingly interesting
+bird. In his reserved way he is socially inclined, showing no dislike to
+an acquaintance with his human neighbors, and even evincing a curiosity
+and willingness to be friendly, most winning to see.
+
+Speak to one who, as you passed, has flown up from the ground and
+alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, looking at you with clear, calm
+eyes. He will not fly; he will even answer you. You may stand there half
+an hour and talk to him and hear his low replies. It seems as if it were
+the easiest thing in the world to inspire him with perfect confidence,
+to coax him to a real intimacy. But there is a limit to his
+trustfulness. When he has a nest and little ones to protect, as already
+shown, he is a different bird; he is wild with terror and distress, and
+refuses to be comforted when one approaches the sacred spot.
+
+This unfortunate distrust of one's intentions makes it very hard for a
+student who loves the individual bird to watch his nest. One can't
+endure to give pain to the gentle and winsome creature. The mournful,
+despairing cry of both parents, "ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik!" constantly
+repeated, makes me, at least, feel like a robber and a murderer, and no
+number of "facts" to be gained will compensate me for the suffering thus
+caused.
+
+One more phase of veery character I was surprised and delighted to
+learn. Sitting on a log in the edge of the woods one evening, just at
+sunset, I listened to the singing of one of these birds quite close to
+me, but hidden from sight. I had never been so near a singer, and I was
+surprised to hear, after every repetition of his song, a low response, a
+sort of whispered "chee." Was it his mate answering, or criticising his
+music? Was it the first note of his newly-fledged offspring? Or could it
+be _sotto voce_ remarks of the bird himself? It was impossible to
+decide, and I went home much puzzled to account for it; but a day or two
+later the mystery was solved,--the thrush showed himself to be a
+humorist.
+
+The odd performance by which I discovered this fact I saw through my
+closed blind. The bird was in plain sight on a small dead tree, but it
+was a retired spot, where he was accustomed to see no one, and he
+evidently did not suspect that he had a listener.
+
+He had eaten his fill from a cluster of elderberries I had hung on the
+tree, and he lingered to sing a little, as he often did. First he
+uttered a call, aloud, clear "quee-o," and followed it instantly by a
+mocking squawk in an undertone. I could hardly believe my eyes and ears,
+and at once gave much closer attention to him. As if for the express
+purpose of convincing me that I had not been mistaken, he instantly
+repeated his effort; and after doing so two or three times, he poured
+out his regular song in his sweet, ringing voice, and followed it by a
+whispered "mew," almost exactly in the tone of pussy herself.
+
+He was not far from my window, across a small yard, and as plainly seen
+through my glass as though not six feet away. I saw his beak and throat,
+and am absolutely certain that he delivered every note. The absorbed
+singer stood there motionless a long time, and carried on this queer
+conversation with himself. It sounded precisely like two birds, one of
+whom was mocking or ridiculing the other in a low tone.
+
+Sometimes the undertone, as said above, was a squawk; again it resembled
+a squeal; now it was petulant, as though the performer scoffed at his
+own singing; and then it was a perfect copy of the song itself, given in
+an indescribably sneering manner. I could think of nothing but the way
+in which one child will sometimes mock the words of another.
+
+It was very droll, as well as exceedingly interesting, and I hope some
+day to study further this unfamiliar side of the thrush nature.
+
+After my unsuccessful attempt to disarm the fears and suspicions of the
+meadow-nesting thrushes, we left the little family to its much loved
+solitude, and in a day or two the whole nestful departed.
+
+
+
+
+XIII.
+
+A JUNE ROUND OF CALLS.
+
+
+"I should like to meet you two in that rig on Fifth Avenue," calmly said
+our hostess one morning in June, as we started out on our regular round
+of calls.
+
+What a suggestion! We stared at each other with a new standard of
+criticism in our eyes. We were not exactly in ordinary visiting costume;
+but then, neither were we making ordinary visits, for the calling-list
+of June differs in every way from that of January. The neighbors at
+whose doors we appeared would be quite as well (or as ill) pleased to
+see us in our dull green woods dress, with fresh leaves on our hats to
+convey the impression that we were mere perambulating shrubs, with
+opera-glasses instead of cards, and camp-stools in place of a carriage,
+as though we had been in regulation array. Away we went, the big dog
+prancing ahead with the camp-stool of his mistress.
+
+Our first call was upon a small dame very high up in the world, thirty
+feet at least. The mention of Fifth Avenue suggests that possibly our
+manners were not above criticism. We introduced ourselves to Madam
+Wood-Pewee not by ringing and sending up cards, but by pausing before
+her door, seating ourselves on our stools, and leveling our glasses at
+her house. We felt, indeed, that we had almost a proprietary interest in
+that little lichen-covered nest resting snugly in a fork of a dead
+branch, for we had assisted in building it, at least by our daily
+presence, during the week or two that she spent in bringing, in the most
+desultory way, snips of material, fastening them in place, and moulding
+the whole by getting in the nest and pressing her breast against it,
+while turning slowly round and round. Now that she had really settled
+herself to sit, we never neglected to leave a card upon her, so to
+speak, every morning.
+
+As we approached we were pleased to see her trim lord and master bearing
+in his mouth what was no doubt intended for a delicate offering to cheer
+her weary hours, for a gauzy yellow wing stuck out on each side of his
+beak, suggesting something uncommonly nice within. He stood a moment
+till we should pass, looking the picture of unconsciousness, and defying
+us to assert that he had a house and home anywhere about that tree. But
+when we did not pass, after hesitatingly hopping from perch to perch
+nearer the nest, he deliberately diverted yellow wing from its original
+destiny, swallowed it himself, and wiped his beak with an air that said:
+"There now! What can you make out of that?"
+
+Ashamed to have deprived the little sitter of her treat, we folded our
+stools and resumed our march.
+
+How shall one put into words the delights of the woods in June without
+"dropping into poetry?" Does not our own native poet say:--
+
+  "Who speeds to the woodland walks?
+  To birds and trees who talks?
+  Caesar of his leafy Rome,
+  There the _poet_ is at home."
+
+But if one is not a poet, must he then suffer and enjoy in silence? When
+he puts aside the leafy portiere and enters the cool green paradise of
+the trees, must he be dumb? Slowly, almost solemnly, we walked up the
+beautiful road with its carpet of dead leaves. It was as silent of man's
+ways as if he were not within a thousand miles, and we had all the
+enjoyment of the deep forest, with the comforting assurance that five
+minutes' walk would bring us to people.
+
+A small family in dark slate-color and white, with a curious taste for
+the antique cave-dwelling, was next on our list. The home was an
+excavation in the soft earth, held together by the roots of an
+overturned tree, and everything was quiet when we arrived--the two
+well-grown infants sound asleep on their hair mattress. We sat down to
+wait, and in a moment we heard the anxious "pip" of the returning
+parents. They had been attending to their regular morning work, and both
+brought food for those youngsters, who woke inopportunely--as babies
+will--and demanded it instantly.
+
+Junco--for he was the head of this household--paused on a twig near by,
+opened and shut his beautiful white-bordered tail, in the embarrassing
+consideration whether he should go in before our eyes and take the risk
+of our intentions, or let his evidently starving offspring suffer. He
+"eyed us over;" he waited till his modest little spouse, acting from
+feeling rather than from judgment (as was to be expected from one of her
+unreasoning sex), had slipped in from below, administered her morsel to
+those precious babies, and escaped unharmed. Then he plucked up courage,
+boldly entered his door, gave a poke behind it, and flew away.
+
+A week later, after we had called as usual one morning and found the
+house empty, he brought his pretty snow-birdlings in their tidy striped
+bibs up to the grove at the back door, where we often heard his sharp
+trilling little song, and saw him working like some bigger papas to keep
+the dear clamorous mouths filled.
+
+The Junco neighborhood was a populous part of our calling district.
+Behind his cave, in a high tree, lived a family of golden-winged
+woodpeckers, who "laughed" and talked as loud as they liked, scorning to
+look upon the two spies so far below them. Not quite so self-possessed
+and bold were they a little later, when madam came up to the grass by
+the farmhouse with her young son to teach him to dig, for that is what
+she did. He was a canny youngster, though he was shy, and had no notion
+of being left in the lurch for a moment. If mamma flew to the fence, he
+instantly followed; did she return to the ground, baby was in a second
+at her side demanding attention. On one occasion while I was watching
+them behind my blind, the mother managed to slip away from him and
+disappear. In a moment he realized his deserted condition, stretched up,
+like a lost chicken, looking about on every side, and calling, in a most
+plaintive tone, "pe-au! au!" and then, "au! au! pe-au!" When at length
+he saw his mother, he burst into a loud cry of delight, and flew into a
+locust-tree, where I heard for a long time low complaining cries, as if
+he reproached her for leaving her baby alone on the fence.
+
+On the right of the home of the golden wings, in a sapling not more than
+five feet from the ground, was the residence of a gay little redstart,
+which we had watched almost from the laying of the foundations. We made
+our visit. Yesterday there were two pearls of promise within; to-day,
+alas! nothing.
+
+Squirrels, we said; for those beasts were the bugaboo of the woods to
+its feathered inhabitants. Hardly a nest was so high, so well hidden, or
+so closely watched, but some unlucky day a little fellow--sportsman,
+would you call him?--- in gray or red fur, would find his chance, and
+make his breakfast on next year's song birds.
+
+Musing on this and other tragedies among our friends, we silently turned
+to the next neighbor. At this door we could knock, and we always did.
+(We desired to be civil when circumstances permitted.) A rap or two on
+the dead trunk brought hastily to the door, twenty-five feet high, a
+small head, with a bright red cap and necktie, and eager, questioning
+eyes. Observing that he had guests, he came out, showing his black and
+white coat. But one glance was usually enough; he declined to entertain
+us, and instantly took his leave. We knew him well, however--the
+yellow-bellied woodpecker, or "sapsucker," as he was called in the
+vicinity. This morning we did not need to knock, for one of the family
+was already outside,--a young woodpecker, clinging to the bark, and
+dressing his nest-ruffled plumage for the grand performance, his first
+flight. We resolved at once to assist at the debut, secured reserved
+seats with a good view, and seated ourselves to wait.
+
+Didst ever, dear reader, sit in one position on a camp-stool without a
+back, with head thrown back, and eyes fixed upon one small bird thirty
+feet from the ground, afraid to move or turn your eyes, lest you miss
+what you are waiting for, while the sun moves steadily on till his
+hottest rays pour through some opening directly upon you; while
+mosquitoes sing about your ears (would that they sang only!), and flies
+buzz noisily before your face; while birds flit past, and strange notes
+sound from behind; while rustling in the dead leaves at your feet
+suggests snakes, and a crawling on your neck proclaims spiders? If you
+have not, you can never appreciate the enthusiasms of a bird student,
+nor realize what neck-breaks and other discomforts one will cheerfully
+endure to witness the first flight of a nestling.
+
+This affair turned out, however, as in many another case of great
+expectations, to be no remarkable performance. When the debutant had
+made his toilet, he flew, as if he had done it all his life, to the next
+tree, where he began at once to call for refreshment, after his
+exertion.
+
+Disappointed, we dropped our eyes, whisked away our insect tormentors,
+gathered up our properties, and passed on our way.
+
+This was the farthest point of our wanderings. The way back was through
+a narrow path beside the oven-bird's pretty domed nest, then between the
+tangle of wild-berry bushes and saplings, where a cuckoo had set up
+housekeeping, and where veeries and warblers had successfully hidden
+their nests, tantalizing us with calls and songs from morning till
+night; from thence through the garden, past the kitchen door, home.
+
+
+
+
+XIV.
+
+A BOBOLINK RHAPSODY.
+
+
+Can anything be more lovely than a meadow in June, its tall grass
+overtopped by daisies, whose open faces,
+
+  "Candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free,
+     Publish themselves to the sky"?
+
+One such I knew, despised of men as a meadow, no doubt, but glorious to
+the eye with its unbroken stretch of white bowing before the summer
+breeze like the waves of the sea, and charming as well to pewee and
+kingbird who hovered over it, ever and anon diving and bringing up food
+for the nestlings. When, to a meadow not so completely abandoned to
+daisies, where buttercups and red clover flourish among the grass, is
+added the music of the meadow's poet, the bobolink, surely nothing is
+lacking to its perfection.
+
+Passing such a field one evening, I noted the babble of bobolinks, too
+far off to hear well, and the next day I set out down another path which
+passed through the meadow, to cultivate the acquaintance of the birds.
+It was a warm summer morning, near the middle of June, and when I
+reached the spot not a bobolink was in sight; but I sought a convenient
+bank under an old apple-tree, made myself as inconspicuous as possible,
+and waited. With these birds, however, as I soon found out, my
+precautions were unnecessary. They are not chary of their music; on the
+contrary, they appear to sing directly to a spectator, and they are too
+confident of the security of the nest to be disturbed about that. In a
+moment a black head with its buff cap appeared at the top of a grass
+stem, and instantly the black body, with its grotesque white decoration,
+followed. The bird flew half a dozen feet, singing as he went, as if the
+movement of the wings set the music going, alighted a little nearer,
+sang again, and finally, concluding that here was something to be looked
+after, a human being, such as he was accustomed to see pass by, taking
+possession of a part of the bobolink domain, he flew boldly to a small
+tree a few yards from me. He alighted on the top twig, in plain sight,
+and proceeded to "look me over," a performance which I returned with
+interest. He was silent only a few seconds, but the sound that came from
+his beak amazed me; it was a "mew." If the cat-bird cry resembles that
+of a cat, this was a perfect copy of a kitten's weak wail. It was always
+uttered twice in close succession, and sometimes followed by a harsh
+note that proclaimed his blackbird strain, a "chack!"
+
+His utterance was thus: "mew, mew (quickly), chack!" and I interpreted
+it into a warning to me to leave the premises. I did not go, however,
+and after several repetitions his vigilance began to relax. He was
+really so full of sweet summer madness that it was impossible to keep up
+the role of stern guardian of the nests under the veil of buttercups and
+daisies, which he knew all the time I could never find. So, when he
+opened his mouth to say "chack," a note or two would irresistibly bubble
+out beside it, as if he said, "You really must go away, my big friend.
+We cannot have you in our fields;--but, after all, isn't the morning
+delicious?"
+
+After a long conflict between desire to sing and his conviction of duty
+as special policeman, which ludicrously suggested Mr. Dick in his
+struggle between longing to be foolish with David Copperfield and to be
+grave to please Miss Betsy, he fairly gave in and did sing--and such a
+burst! Everybody has tried his hand at characterizing this bird's
+incomparable song, but no one has fully expressed it, for words are not
+capable of it. Perhaps Mrs. Spofford has caught the spirit as well as
+any one:--
+
+  "Last year methinks the bobolinks
+  Filled the low fields with vagrant tune,
+  The sweetest songs of sweetest June--
+  Wild spurts of frolic, always gladly
+  Bubbling, doubling, brightly troubling,
+  Bubbling rapturously, madly."
+
+Expressing himself was so great a relief to my bobolink, after his
+unnatural gravity of demeanor, that he repeated the performance again
+and again. I say repeated it; I found that he had two ways of beginning,
+but after he got into his ecstasy I could think of nothing but how
+marvelous it was, so that whether the two differed all through I am not
+sure. It was every time a new rapture to me as well as to him. One of
+his beginnings that I had time to note before I was lost in the flood of
+melody was of two notes, the second a fifth higher than the first, with
+a "grace-note," very low indeed, before each one. The other beginning
+was also two notes, the second at least a fifth lower than the first,
+with an indescribable jerk between, and uttered so softly that if I had
+been a little further away I could not have heard it. It sounded like
+"tut, now."
+
+Seeing that I remained motionless, the bird forgot altogether his
+uncongenial occupation of watchman, and launched himself into the air
+toward me, soaring round and round me, letting fall such a flood, such a
+torrent, of liquid notes that I thought half a dozen were singing,--and
+then dropped into the grass. Soon others appeared here and there, and
+sang it mattered not how or where,--soaring or beating the wings, on a
+grass stem, the top of a tree, hidden in the grass, or rudely rocked by
+the wind, they "sang and sang and sang."
+
+Then for a while all was still. A turkey leading her fuzzy little brood
+about in the grass thrust her scrawny neck and anxious head above the
+daisies, said "quit! quit!" to me, and returned to the brooding
+mother-tones that kept her family around her. Tiring of my position
+while waiting for the concert to resume, I laid my head back among the
+ferns, letting the daisies and buttercups tower above my
+face,--strangely enough, by this simple act realizing as never before
+the real motherhood of the earth.
+
+While I lay musing, lo, a sudden burst of music above my head! A
+bobolink sailed over my face, not three feet from it, singing his
+merriest, and then dropped into the grass behind me. Oh, never did I so
+much wish for eyes in the back of my head! He must be almost within
+touch, yet I dared not move; doubtless I was under inspection by that
+keen dark eye, for the first movement sent him away with a whir.
+
+My next visitors were a small flock of six or eight cedar-birds, who
+were seriously disturbed by my choice of a couch. Evidently the green
+tent above my head was their chosen tree, and they could not give it up.
+Finding me perfectly silent, they would come, perch in various parts of
+the branches, and turn their wise-looking black spectacles down to look
+at me, keeping up an animated conversation the while. We call the
+cedar-bird silent because he has, as generally supposed, but one low
+note; but he can put into that one an almost infinite variety of
+expressions. If I so much as moved a hand, instantly my Quaker-clad
+friends dived off the tree below the bank across the road, as if, in
+their despair, they had flung themselves madly into the brook at the
+bottom. But I did not suspect them of so rash an act, and, indeed, in a
+few minutes the apple-tree again resounded with their cries.
+
+Meanwhile the sun marched relentlessly on, and the shadows without and
+the feelings within alike pointed to the dinner hour (12 M.). I rose,
+and thereby created a panic in my small world. Six cedar-birds
+disappeared over the bank, a song sparrow flew shrieking across the
+field, a squirrel interrupted in his investigations fled madly along the
+rail fence, every few steps stopping an instant, with hindquarters laid
+flat and tail resting on the rail, to see if his head was still safe on
+his shoulders.
+
+I gathered up my belongings and sauntered off toward home, musing, as I
+went, upon the bobolink family. I had not once seen or heard the little
+mates. Were they busy in the grass with bobolink babies? and did they
+enjoy the music as keenly as I did? How much I "wanted to know"! How I
+should like to see the nests and the nestlings! What sort of a father is
+the gay singer? (Some of the blackbird family are exemplary in this
+relation.) Does he drop his part of poet, of reveler of the meadows, I
+wonder, and come down to the sober prose of stuffing baby mouths? Are
+bobolinks always this jolly, delightful crowd? Are they never
+quarrelsome? Alas! it would take much more than one day, however sunny
+and however long, to tell all these things.
+
+At the edge of the meadow I sat down again, hoping for one more song,
+and then came the crown of the whole morning, the choicest reserved for
+the last. A bird sailed out from behind the daisies, passed over my
+head, and delivered the most bewitching rhapsody I had yet heard. Not
+merely once did he honor me, but again and again without pausing, as if
+he intended to fill me as full of bobolink rapture as he was himself.
+His voice was peculiarly rich and full, and, what amazed me, his first
+three notes were an exact reproduction of the wood-thrush's (though more
+rapidly sung), including the marvelous organ-like quality of that
+bird's voice. I could have listened forever.
+
+  "Oh, what have I to do with time?
+  For this the day was made."
+
+But when he had uttered his message he sank back into the grass, and I
+tore myself away from the bobolink meadow, and came home far richer and
+far happier than when I set out.
+
+
+
+
+XV.
+
+THE BOBOLINK'S NEST.
+
+
+My acquaintance with the bobolink was resumed a year later in the lovely
+summer home of a friend in the Black River Country, within sight of the
+Adirondack hills. We had found many nests in the woods and orchards, but
+the meadow had been safe from our feet, partly because of the rich crops
+that covered it, but more, perhaps, because of the hopelessness of the
+search over the broad fields for anything so easily hidden as a ground
+nest.
+
+One evening, however, our host with a triumphant air invited us to walk,
+declaring that he could show us a nest more interesting than we had
+found.
+
+The gentleman was a joker, and his statements were apt to be somewhat
+embellished by his vivid imagination, so that we accepted them with
+caution; but now he looked exultant, and we believed him, especially as
+he took his hat and stick and started off.
+
+Down the road we went, a single carriage-way between two banks of grass
+a yard high. After carefully taking his bearings by certain small
+elm-trees, and searching diligently about for an inconspicuous dead twig
+he had planted as a guide-post, our leader confidently waded into the
+green depths, parted the stalks in a certain spot, and bade us look.
+
+We did. In a cosy cup, almost under our feet, were cuddled together
+three bird-babies.
+
+"Bobolinks?" we cried in a breath.
+
+"Yes, bobolinks," said our guide; "and you had to wait for an old
+half-blind man to find them for you."
+
+We were too much delighted to be annoyed by his teasing; a bobolink's
+nest we never hoped to see.
+
+Nor should we, but for a discovery of mine that very morning. Walking
+down that same road, I had noticed in the deep grass near the path a
+clump of exquisite wild flowers. They were of gorgeous coloring, shaded
+from deep orange to rich yellow, full petaled like an English daisy, and
+about the size of that flower, with the edge of every tiny petal cut in
+fairy-like fringe. I admired them for some minutes as they grew, and
+then gathered a handful to grace my room. As I came up to the house, my
+host stood on the steps; his eyes fell at once upon my nosegay, and a
+look of horror came into his face.
+
+My heart sank. Had I unwittingly picked some of his special treasures,
+some rare exotic which he had cultivated with care?
+
+"Where did you find that stuff?" he demanded. I was instantly relieved;
+no man will call a treasure "stuff."
+
+"In the meadow," I answered. "What is it?"
+
+"You must show me the exact spot," he said, emphatically. "I shall have
+a man out at once, to get it up, root and branch. It's the devil's
+paintbrush."
+
+"Then his majesty has good taste in color," I said.
+
+"That stuff," he went on, "spreads like wildfire. It'll eat up my meadow
+in a year."
+
+I turned back and showed him the spot from which my flowers had come,
+pointing out at the same time two or three other clumps I could see
+farther out in the waving green sea, and before long his farmer and he
+were very busy over them.
+
+Now it appeared that in tramping about the deep grass, where we
+bird-students dared not set our feet, he had nearly stepped on a
+bobolink, who flew, and thus pointed out her nest; and he had taken its
+bearings with the intention of putting us to shame.
+
+We looked long at the tiny trio so compactly packed in their cradle,
+till they awoke and demanded supplies. Then we carefully replanted the
+dead stick, taking its exact bearings between three trees, drew a few
+grass-stems together in a braid at the margin so that we should not lose
+what we had so accidentally gained, and then we left them.
+
+During this inspection of the nest, the "poet of the year" and his
+spouse were perched on two neighboring trees, utterly unmoved by our
+movements. They were, no doubt, so perfectly confident of the security
+of the hiding-place that it never occurred to them even to look to see
+what we three giants were doing. At least, such we judged were their
+sentiments by the change in their manners somewhat later, when they
+thought we were likely to make discoveries.
+
+The meadow itself had been our delight for weeks. When we arrived, in
+the beginning of June, it was covered with luxuriant clumps of blue
+violets, and great bunches of blue-eyed grass that one might gather by
+the handful at one picking. Later the higher parts were thickly
+sprinkled with white where
+
+    "Gracefully as does the fawn,
+  Sweet Marguerites their dainty heads uphold,"
+
+while the hollows were golden with buttercups. Then the grass under the
+warm June sun stretched up inch by inch till it was three or four feet
+high and very thick. Meanwhile a bobolink or two, and as many
+meadow-larks had taken possession of it, and it was made still richer
+by the sweet minor strains of the lark, and the song of the bird who,
+
+                   "like the soul
+  Of the sweet season vocal in a bird,
+  Gurgles in ecstasy we know not what."
+
+The evening after our humiliation--which we lost sight of in our joy--we
+returned to the charmed spot, parted again the sweet grass curtains and
+gazed down at the baby bobolinks, while the parents perched on two trees
+as before and paid not the smallest attention to us.
+
+We passed on down the road to the gate where we could look into a
+neighboring pasture and watch for a pair of red-headed woodpeckers who
+lived in that pleasant place, and catch the reflection of the sunset in
+the northern sky. While we lingered there, I looked with my glass back
+at the bobolinks, and chanced to see Bobby himself in the act of diving
+into the grass. When he came out he seemed to notice me, and instantly
+began trying to mislead me.
+
+He came up boldly, flew to another spot where a weed lifted its head
+above the green, and dropped into the grass exactly as though he was
+going to the nest; then he rose again, repeated his tactics, pausing
+every time he came out and calling, as if to say, "This is my home; if
+you're looking for a nest, here it is!" His air was so business-like
+that it would naturally deceive one not possessed of our precious
+secret, the real spot where his three babies were cradled, and one might
+easily be led all over the meadow by the wily fellow.
+
+For six successive days we paid our short visits, and found the
+nestlings safe. They did not seem to mature very fast, though they came
+to look up at us, and open their mouths for food. But on the seventh day
+there was a change in Master Robert's behavior. On the afternoon of this
+day, wishing to observe their habits more closely, I found a seat under
+a tree at some distance, not near enough, as I thought, to disturb them.
+
+I did disturb them sorely, however, as instantly appeared. The calmness
+they had shown during all the days we had been looking at the nest was
+gone, and they began to scold at once. The head of the family berated me
+from the top of a grass-stem, and then flew to a tall old stump, and put
+me under the closest surveillance, constantly uttering a queer call like
+"Chack-que-dle-la," jerking wings and tail, and in every way showing
+that he considered me intrusive and altogether too much interested in
+his family affairs. I admitted the charge, I could not deny it; but I
+did not retire.
+
+At last he apparently determined to insist upon my going, for he
+started from his high perch directly toward me. Swiftly and with all his
+force he flew, and about twenty feet from me swooped down so that I
+thought he would certainly strike my face. I instinctively dodged, and
+he passed over, so near that the wind from his wings fanned my face.
+This was a hint I could not refuse to take. I left him, for the time.
+
+That evening when we went for our usual call, lo! the nest was empty. At
+not more than seven or eight days of age, those precocious infants had
+started out in the world! That explained the conduct of the anxious papa
+in the afternoon, and I forgave him on the spot. I understood his fear
+that I should discover or step on his babies three, scattered and
+scrambling about under all that depth of grass. The abandoned homestead,
+which we carefully examined, proved to be merely a cup-shaped hollow in
+the ground, slightly protected by a thin lining.
+
+In a few days the wandering younglings were up in front of the house,
+where we could watch the parents drop into the grass with food; and
+where, of course, they were safe from anybody's intrusion. I had one
+more encounter with his lordship. After the young had been out a week or
+more, they seemed in their moving about to get back near to the old
+place. As I took my usual walk one evening, down the carriage drive to
+the gate, I found two pairs of bobolinks on one tree; the two mothers
+with food in their mouths, evidently intended for somebody down in the
+grass; and the two fathers, very much disturbed at my appearance. They
+greeted me with severe and reproving "chacks," and finally favored me
+with the most musical call I have heard from the sweet-voiced bird of
+the meadow. It was like "kee-lee!" in loud and rich tones, and it was
+many times repeated.
+
+I assured them that I had no wish to disturb their little ones; though,
+if I had been able to lift the whole grassy cover to peep at the two
+small families hidden there, I fear I should have yielded to the
+temptation.
+
+Our bird had been somewhat erratic in making his home far from his
+fellows,--so social are these birds even in nesting-time; but now he was
+joined by more of his kind from the meadows below, and to the beautiful
+waving carpet of green, dotted here and there with great bunches of
+black-eyed Susans and devil's paint-brushes (what names!), and sprinkled
+all over with daisies, now beginning to look a little disheveled and
+wild, was added the tantalizing interest of dozens of little folk
+running about under its shelter.
+
+The next week brought to the meadow what must seem from the bobolink
+point of view almost the end of the world. Men and horses and great
+rattling machines, armed with sharp knives, which laid low every stem of
+grass and flower, and let the light of the sun in upon the haunts and
+the nests of the bobolink babies.
+
+Happily, however, not all the earth is meadow and subject to this annual
+catastrophe; and I think the whole flock took refuge in a pasture where
+they were safe from the hay-cutters, and had for neighbors only the cows
+and the crow babies.
+
+
+
+
+XVI.
+
+THE TANAGER'S NEST.
+
+
+One of the prettiest memory-pictures of my delightful June on the banks
+of the Black River is the nest of a scarlet tanager, placed as the
+keystone of one of Nature's exquisite living arches. The path which led
+to it was almost as charming as the nest itself. Lifting a low-hanging
+branch of maple at the entrance to the woods, we took leave of the world
+and all its affairs, and stepped at once into a secluded path. Though so
+near the house, the woods were solitary, for they were private and very
+carefully protected. Passing up the rustic foot-path, under interlacing
+boughs of maple and beech, we came at length to a sunny open spot, where
+all winter grain is kept for partridges, squirrels, and other pensioners
+who may choose to come. From this little opening one road turned to the
+wild-berry field, where lived the cuckoo and the warblers; another
+opened an inviting way into the deep woods; a third went through the
+fernery. We took that, and passed on through a second lovely bit of
+wood, where the ground was wet, and ferns of many kinds grew
+luxuriantly, and the walk was mostly over a dainty corduroy of minute
+moss-covered logs.
+
+At the end of the fernery are two ways. The first runs along the edge of
+the forest, whose outlying saplings hang over and make a cool covered
+walk. Down this path I almost had an adventure one day. The morning was
+warm and I was alone. As I came out of this covered passage, beside an
+old stump, I noticed in a depression in the ground at my feet a
+squirming mass of fur. On looking closer I saw four or five little
+beasts rolling and scrambling over each other. They were as big,
+perhaps, as a month-old kitten, but they were a good deal more knowing
+than pussy's babies, for as I drew near they stopped their play and
+waited to see what would happen. I looked at them with eager interest.
+They were really beautiful; black and white in stripes, with long bushy
+tails. Black and white, and so self-possessed!--a thought struck me.
+"Mephitis," I gasped, and instantly put several feet more between us. So
+attractive and playful were they, however, that notwithstanding I feared
+it might be hard to convince their mamma, should she appear, of my
+amiable intentions, I could not resist another look. Calm as a summer
+morning walked off one of the mephitis babies, holding his pretty tail
+straight up like a kitten's, while the other four went on with their
+frolic in the grass. At this moment I heard a rustle in the dead leaves,
+and having no desire to meet their grown-up relatives, I left in so
+great haste that I took the wrong path, and finally lost myself for a
+time in a tangle of wild raspberry bushes, whose long arms reached out
+on every side to scratch the face and hands or catch the dress of the
+unwary passer-by.
+
+The other of the two ways spoken of was a road, soft-carpeted with dead
+leaves. To reach the tanager's nest we took that, and came, a little
+further on, to a big log half covered with growing fungi and laid
+squarely across the passage. This was the fungus log, another landmark
+for the wanderer unfamiliar with these winding ways. On this, if I were
+alone, I always rested awhile to get completely into the woods spirit,
+for this is the heart of the woods, with nothing to be seen on any side
+but trees. Cheerful, pleasant woods they are, of sunny beech, birch,
+maple, and butternut, with branches high above our heads, and a far
+outlook under the trees in every direction. There is no gloom such as
+evergreens make; no barricade of dark impenetrable foliage, behind which
+might lurk anything one chose to imagine, from a grizzly bear to an
+equally unwelcome tramp.
+
+In this lovely spot come together four roads and a path, and to the
+pilgrim from cities they seem like paths into paradise. That on the
+right leads by a roundabout way to the "corner," where one may see the
+sunset. The next, straight in front, is the passage to the nest of the
+winter wren. The far left invites one to a wild tangle of fallen trees
+and undergrowth, where veeries sing, and enchanting but maddening
+warblers lure the bird-lover on, to scramble over logs, wade into
+swamps, push through chaotic masses of branches, and, while using both
+hands to make her way, incidentally offer herself a victim to the
+thirsty inhabitants whose stronghold it is. All this in a vain search
+for some atom of a bird that doubtless sits through the whole, calmly
+perched on the topmost twig of the tallest tree, shielded by a leaf, and
+pours out the tantalizing trill that draws one like a magnet.
+
+Between this road and the wren's highway a path runs upward. It is
+narrow, and guarded at the opening by a mossy log to be stepped over,
+but it is most alluring. Up that route we go. On the left as we pass we
+notice two beautiful nests in saplings, so low that we can look in;
+redstarts both, and nearly always we find madam at home. We pass on,
+step over a second mossy log, pause a moment to glance at a vireo's
+hanging cradle on the right, and arrive at length at a crossing road,
+on the other side of which our path goes on, with a pile of logs like a
+stile to go over. Over the logs we step, walk a rod or two further, stop
+beside the blackened trunk of a fallen tree, turn our faces to the left,
+and behold the nest.
+
+Before us is one of nature's arches. A maple sapling, perhaps fifteen
+feet high, has in some way been bowed till its top touched the ground
+and became fastened there, a thing often seen in these woods. Thus
+diverted from its original destiny of growing into a tree, it has kept
+its "sweetness and light," sent out leaves and twigs through all its
+length, and become one of the most beautiful things in the woods--a
+living arch. Just in the middle of this exquisite bow, five feet above
+the ground, is the tanager's nest, well shielded by leaves. We never
+should have found it if the little fellow in scarlet had not made so
+much objection to our going up this particular passage that we suspected
+him of having a secret in this quarter. He went ahead of us from tree to
+tree, keeping an eye on us, and calling, warily, "chip-chur!" When we
+sat down a few moments to see what all the fuss was about, we saw his
+spouse in her modest dress of olive green on a low branch. She, too,
+uttered the cry "chip-chur!" and seemed disturbed by our call. Looking
+around for the object of their solicitude, our eyes fell at the same
+instant on the nest. We dared not speak, but an ecstatic glance from my
+comrade, with a hand laid on her heart to indicate her emotions,
+announced that our hopes were fulfilled; it was the nest we were
+seeking.
+
+The birds, seeing that we meant to stay, flew away after a while, and we
+hastened to secrete ourselves before they should return, by placing our
+camp-stools in a thick growth of saplings just higher than our heads. We
+crowned ourselves with fresh leaves, not as conquerors, though such we
+felt ourselves, but as a disguise to hide our heads. We daubed our faces
+here and there with an odorous (not to say odious) preparation warranted
+to discourage too great familiarity on the part of the residents already
+established in that spot. We subsided into silence.
+
+The birds returned, but were still wary. As before, the male perched
+high and kept a sharp eye out on the country around, and I have no doubt
+soon espied us in our retreat. Madam again tried to "screw her courage
+up" to visit that nest. Nearer and nearer she came, pausing at every
+step, looking around and calling to her mate to make sure he was near.
+At last, just as she seemed about to take the last step and go in, and
+we were waiting breathless for her to do it, a terrific sound broke the
+silence. The big dog, protector and constant companion of my
+fellow-student, overcome by the torment of mosquitoes, and having no
+curiosity about tanagers to make him endure them, had yielded to his
+emotions and sneezed. Away went the tanager family, and, laughing at the
+absurd accident, away we went too, happy at having discovered the nest,
+and planning to come the next day. We came next day, and many days
+thereafter, but never again did we see the birds near. They abandoned
+the nest, doubtless feeling that they had been driven away by a
+convulsion of nature.
+
+One day, somewhat later, in the winter wren's quarter, where there were
+pools left by a heavy rain, we met them again. Madam was bathing, and
+her husband accompanied her as guard and protector. They flew away
+together. All of June we heard him sing, and we often followed him, but
+never again did we surprise a secret of his, till the very last day of
+the month. We had been making a visit to our veery nests, and on our way
+back noticed that the tanager was more than usually interested in our
+doings. He seemed very busy too, with the air of a person of family.
+While we were watching to see what it meant, he caught a flying insect
+and held it in his mouth. Then we knew he had little folk to feed, so
+we seated ourselves on the fungus log, and waited for him to point one
+out. He did. He could not resist giving that delicate morsel to his
+first-born. With many wary approaches, he dropped at last into the
+scanty undergrowth, and there, a foot above the ground, we saw the young
+tanager. He was a little dumpling of a fellow, with no hint in his
+baby-suit of the glory that shall clothe him by and by. But where was
+the mother? and where had they nested? But for that untimely sneeze, as
+I shall always believe, they would have made their home in that
+beautiful nest on the arch, and we should have been there to see.
+
+
+
+
+XVII.
+
+THE WILES OF A WARBLER.
+
+  "Hark to that petulant chirp! What ails the warbler?
+  Mark his capricious ways to draw the eye."
+
+
+We called him the blue, but that was not his whole name by any means.
+Fancy a scientist with a new bird to label, contenting himself with one
+word! His whole name is--or was till lately--black-throated blue-backed
+warbler, or _Dendroica coerulescens_, and that being fairly set down
+for future reference for whom it may concern, I shall call him
+henceforth, as we did in the woods, the blue.
+
+For a day or two at first he was to us, like many another of his size,
+only a "wandering voice." But it was an enticing voice, a sweet-toned
+succession of _z-z-z_ in ascending scale, and it was so persistent that
+when we really made the attempt, we had no trouble in getting sight of
+the little beauty hardly bigger than one's thumb. He was a wary little
+sprite, and though he looked down upon us as we turned opera-glasses
+toward him,--a battery that puts some birds into a panic,--he was not
+alarmed. He probably made up his mind then and there, that it should be
+his special business to keep us away from his nest, for really that
+seemed to be his occupation. No sooner did we set foot in the woods than
+his sweet song attracted us. We followed it, and he, carelessly as it
+seemed, but surely, led us on around and around, always in a circle
+without end.
+
+My fellow bird-student became fairly bewitched, and could not rest till
+she found his nest. For my part I gave up the warbler family long ago,
+as too small, too uneasy, too fond of tree-tops, to waste time and
+patience over. In these her native woods, my comrade led in our walks,
+and the moment we heard his tantalizing _z-z-z_ she turned irresistibly
+toward it. I followed, of course, happy to be anywhere under these
+trees.
+
+One morning she tracked him inch by inch till she was fortunate enough
+to trace him to a wild corner in the woods given up to a tangle of
+fallen trees, saplings, and other growth. She went home happy, sure she
+was on the trail. The next day we turned our steps to that quarter and
+penetrated the jungle till we reached a moderately clear spot facing an
+impenetrable mass of low saplings. There we took our places, to wait
+with what patience we might for the blue.
+
+Our lucky star was in the ascendant that day, for we had not been there
+three minutes before a small, inconspicuous bird dropped into the bushes
+a few feet from us. My friend's eye followed her, and in a second fell
+upon the nest the little creature was lining, in a low maple about two
+feet from the ground.
+
+But who was she? For it is one of the difficulties about nests, that the
+brightly-colored male, whom one knows so well, is very sure not to show
+himself in the neighborhood, and his spouse is certain to look just like
+everybody else. However, there is always some mark by which we may know,
+and as soon as the watcher secured a good look she announced in an
+excited whisper, "We have it! a female blue, building."
+
+So it proved to be, and we planted our seats against trees for backs,
+and arranged ourselves to stay. The dog seeing this preparation, and
+recognizing it as somewhat permanent, with a heavy sigh laid himself out
+full length, and composed himself to sleep.
+
+The work over that nest was one of the prettiest bits of bird-life I
+ever watched. Never was a scrap of a warbler, a mere pinch of feathers,
+so perfectly delighted with anything as she with that dear little
+homestead of hers. It was pretty; it looked outside like the dainty
+hanging cradle of a vireo, but instead of being suspended from a
+horizontal forked twig, it was held in an upright fork made by four
+twigs of the sapling.
+
+The little creature's body seemed too small to hold her joy; she simply
+could not bring her mind to leave it. She rushed off a short distance
+and brought some infinitesimal atom of something not visible to our
+coarse sight, but very important in hers. This she arranged carefully,
+then slipped into the nest and moulded it into place by pressing her
+breast against it and turning around.
+
+Thus she worked for some time, and then seemed to feel that her task was
+over, at least for the moment. Yet she could not tear herself away. She
+flew six inches away, then instantly came back and got into the nest,
+trying it this way and that. Then she ran up a stem, and in a moment
+down again, trying that nest in a new way, from a fresh point of view.
+This performance went on a long time, and we found it as impossible to
+leave as she did; we were as completely charmed with her ingenuous and
+bewitching manners as she was with her new home.
+
+Well indeed was it that we stayed that morning and enriched ourselves
+with the beautiful picture of bird ways, for like many another fair
+promise of the summer it came to naught.
+
+We had not startled her, she had not observed us at all, nor been in the
+least degree hindered in her work by our silent presence, twenty feet
+away and half hidden by her leafy screen. But the next day she was not
+there. After we had waited half an hour, my friend could no longer
+resist a siren voice that had lured us for days (and was never traced
+home, by the way). I offered to wait for the little blue while she
+sought her charmer.
+
+We were near the edge of the woods, and she was obliged to pass through
+part of a pasture where sheep were kept. Her one terror about her big
+dog was that he should take to making himself disagreeable among sheep,
+when she knew his days would be numbered, so she told him to stay with
+me. He had risen when she started, and he looked a little dubious, but
+sat down again, and she went away.
+
+He watched her so long as she could be seen and then turned to me for
+comfort. He came close and laid his big head on my lap to be petted. I
+patted his head and praised him a while, and then wished to be relieved.
+But flattery was sweet to his ears, and the touch of a hand to his
+brow,--he declined to be put away; on the contrary he demanded constant
+repetition of the agreeable sensations. If I stopped, he laid his heavy
+head across my arm, in a way most uncomfortable to one not accustomed to
+dogs. These methods not availing, he sat up close beside me, when he
+came nearly to my shoulder and leaned heavily against me, his head
+resting against my arm in a most sentimental attitude.
+
+At last finding that I would not be coaxed or forced into devoting
+myself wholly to his entertainment, he rose with dignity, and walked off
+in the direction his mistress had gone, paying no more attention to my
+commands or my coaxings than if I did not exist. If I would not do what
+he wished, and pay the price of his society, he would not do what I
+asked. I was, therefore, left alone.
+
+I was perfectly quiet. My dress was a dull woods tint, carefully
+selected to be inconspicuous, and I was motionless. No little dame
+appeared, but I soon became aware of the pleasing sound of the blue
+himself. It drew nearer, and suddenly ceased. Cautiously, without
+moving, I looked up. My eyes fell upon the little beauty peering down
+upon me. I scarcely breathed while he came nearer, at last directly over
+my head, silent, and plainly studying me. I shall always think his
+conclusion was unfavorable, that he decided I was dangerous; and I, who
+never lay a finger on an egg or a nest in use, had to suffer for the
+depredations of the race to which I belong. The pretty nest so doted
+upon by its little builder was never occupied, and the winsome song of
+the warbler came from another part of the wood.
+
+We found him, indeed, so often near this particular place, a worse
+tangle, if possible, than the other, that we suspected they had set up
+their household gods here. Many times did my friend and her dog work
+their way through it, while I waited outside, and considered the
+admirable tactics of the wary warbler. The search was without result.
+
+Weeks passed, but though other birds interested us, and filled our days
+with pleasure, my comrade never ceased longing to find the elusive nest
+of that blue warbler, and our revenge came at last. Nests may be
+deserted, little brown spouses may be hidden under green leaves,
+homesteads may be so cunningly placed that one cannot find them, but
+baby birds cannot be concealed. They will speak for themselves; they
+will get out of the nest before they can fly; they will scramble about,
+careless of being seen; and such is the devotion of parents that they
+must and will follow all these vagaries, and thus give their precious
+secret to whoever has eyes to see.
+
+One day I came alone into the woods, and as I reached a certain place,
+sauntering along in perfect silence, I evidently surprised somebody, for
+I was saluted by low "smacks" and I caught glimpses of two birds who
+dived into the jewel-weed and disappeared. A moment later I saw the
+blue take flight a little farther off, and soon his song burst out, calm
+and sweet as though he had never been surprised in his life.
+
+I walked slowly on up the road, for this was one of the most enchanting
+spots in the woods, to birds as well as to bird-lovers. Here the cuckoo
+hid her brood till they could fly. In this retired corner the tawny
+thrush built her nest, and the hermit filled its aisles with music,
+while on the trespass notices hung here, the yellow-bellied woodpecker
+drummed and signaled. It was filled with interest and with pleasant
+memories, and I lingered here for some time.
+
+Then as the road led me still farther away, I turned back. Coming
+quietly, again I surprised the blue family and was greeted in the same
+manner as before. They had slipped back in silence during my absence,
+and the young blues were, doubtless, at that moment running about under
+the weeds.
+
+Thus we found our warbler, the head of a family, hard at work as any
+sparrow, feeding a beloved, but somewhat scraggy looking, youngster, the
+feeble likeness of himself. There, too, we found the little brown mamma,
+the same, as we suppose, whose nest-building we had watched with so much
+interest. She also had a youngster under her charge. But how was this!
+a brown baby clad like herself! Could it be that the sons and daughters
+of this warbler family outrage all precedent by wearing their grown-up
+dress in the cradle? We consulted the authorities and found our
+conclusion was correct.
+
+Henceforth we watched with greater interest than before. Every day that
+we came into the woods we saw the little party of four, always near
+together, scrambling about under the saplings or among the jewel-weed,
+or running over the tangled branches of a fallen tree, the two younger
+calling in sharp little voices for food, and the elders bustling about
+on low trees to find it.
+
+We soon noticed that there was favoritism in the family. Papa fed only
+the little man, while mamma fed the little maid, though she too
+sometimes stuffed a morsel into the mouth of her son. Let us hope that
+by this arrangement both babies are equally fed, and not, as is often
+the case, the most greedy secures the greatest amount.
+
+We had now reached the last of July, and the woods were full of new
+voices, not alone the peeps or chirps of birdlings impatient for food.
+There were baffling rustles of leaves in the tree-tops, rebounds of
+twigs as some small form left them, flits of strange-colored
+wings,--migration had begun. Now, if the bird-student wishes not to go
+mad with problems she cannot solve, she will be wise to fold her
+camp-stool and return to the haunts of the squawking English sparrow and
+the tireless canary, the loud-voiced parrot, and the sleep-destroying
+mockingbird. I did.
+
+
+
+
+XVIII.
+
+A RAINY-DAY TRAMP.
+
+
+Before I opened my eyes in the morning I knew something had happened,
+for I missed the usual charm of dawn. A robin, to be sure, made an
+effort to lead, as was his custom, and sang out bravely once or twice; a
+song sparrow, too, flitted into the evergreen beside my window, and
+uttered his sweet and cheery little greeting to whom it might concern.
+But those were the only ones out of the fourteen voices we were
+accustomed to hear in the morning.
+
+When I came out on the veranda not a note was to be heard and not a bird
+to be seen excepting a woodpecker, who bounded gayly up the trunk of a
+maple, as if sunshine were not essential to happiness, and a
+chipping-sparrow, who went about through the dripping grass with perfect
+indifference to weather, squabbling with his fellow-chippies, and
+picking up his breakfast as usual.
+
+I seated myself in the big rocker, and turned toward the woods, a few
+rods away. The rain, which had fallen heavily for hours, light and fine
+now, drew a shimmering veil before the trees,--a veil like a Japanese
+bead-hanging, which hides nothing, only the rain veil was more
+diaphanous than anything fashioned by human hands. It did not conceal,
+but enhanced the charm of everything behind it, lending a glamour that
+turned the woods into enchanted land.
+
+Before the house how the prospect was changed! The hills and Adirondack
+woods in the distance were cut sharply off, and our little world stood
+alone, closed in by heavy walls of mist.
+
+My glass transported me to the edge of the side lawn, where I looked far
+under the trees, and rejoiced in the joy of the woods in rain. The trees
+were still, as if in ecstasy "too deep for smiling;" the ferns gently
+waved and nodded. Every tiny leaf that had thrust its head up through
+the mould, ambitious to be an ash or a maple or a fern, straightened
+itself with fullness of fresh life. The woods were never so fascinating,
+nor showed so plainly
+
+  "The immortal gladness of inanimate things."
+
+A summer shower the birds, and we, have reason to expect, and even to
+enjoy, but a downpour of several hours, a storm that lays the deep grass
+flat, beats down branches, and turns every hollow into a lake, was more
+than they had provided for, I fear. My heart went out to the dozens of
+bobolink and song-sparrow babies buried under the matted grass, the
+little tawny thrushes wandering around cold and comfortless on the
+soaked ground in the woods, the warbler infants,--redstart and
+chestnut-sided--that I knew were sitting humped up and miserable in some
+watery place under the berry bushes, the young tanager only just out of
+the nest, and the two cuckoo babies, thrust out of their home at the
+untimely age of seven days, to shiver around on their weak blue legs.
+
+My only comfort was in thinking of woodpecker little folk, the
+yellow-bellied family whose loud and insistent baby cries we had
+listened to for days, the downy and hairy, and the golden-wing. They
+were all warm and snug, if they could only be persuaded to stay at home.
+But from what I have seen of young birds, when their hour strikes they
+go, be it fair or foul. To take the bitter with the sweet is their fate,
+and no rain, however driving, no wind, however rough, can detain them an
+hour when they feel the call of the inner voice which bids them go. I
+have seen many birdlings start out in weather that from our point of
+view should make the feathered folk, old or young, hug the nest or any
+shelter they can find.
+
+In the afternoon the rain had ceased, and we went out. How beautiful we
+found the woods! More than ever I despair of
+
+  "Putting my woods in song."
+
+Every fresh condition of light brings out new features. They are not the
+same in the morning and the afternoon; sunshine makes them very
+different from a gray sky; and heavy rain, which hangs still in drops
+from every leaf and twig, changes them still more.
+
+This time the tree-trunks were the most noticeable feature. Thoreau
+speaks of rain waking the lichens into life, and we saw this as never
+before. Not only does it bring out the colors and give a brightness and
+richness they show at no other time, but it raises the leaves--if one
+may so call them--makes them stand out fresh. The beeches were marvelous
+with many shades of green, and of pink, from a delicate blush over the
+whole tree, to bright vermilion in small patches. The birches, "most shy
+and ladylike of trees," were intensely yellow; some lovely with dabs of
+green, while others looked like rugged old heroes of many battles, with
+great patches of black, and ragged ends of loosened bark fringing them
+like an Indian's war dress, up to the branches. Every hollow under the
+trees had become a clear pond to reflect these beauties, and lively
+little brooks rippled across the path, adding to the woods the only
+thing they lacked,--running water.
+
+Instinctively our feet turned up the path to the oven-bird's nest, so
+narrow that we brushed a shower from every bush. There he was, singing
+at that moment. "Teacher! teacher! teacher!" he called, with head thrown
+up and wings drooped. And then while we looked he left his perch, and
+passed up between the branches out of our sight, his sweet ecstatic
+love-song floating down to delight our souls.
+
+Surely, we thought, all must be well in the cabin among the dead leaves,
+or he could not sing so. Yet life had not been all rose-colored to the
+little dame whom we had surprised several days before, bringing great
+pieces of what appeared to be lace, to line the nest she had made so
+wonderfully. We had watched her, breathless, for a long time, while she
+went back and forth carrying in old leaves, softened, bleached, and
+turned to lace by long exposure, arranged each one carefully and moulded
+it to place by pressing her breast against it, and turning round and
+round in the nest. Curious enough she looked as she alighted at some
+distance, and walked--not hopped--to her little "oven," holding the
+almost skeletonized leaf before her like an apron, so busy that she did
+not observe that she had visitors.
+
+Then came a day when, on reaching our usual place, we found that an
+accident had happened. The dainty roof was crushed in, and the poor
+little egg, for which such loving preparations had been made, lay
+pathetically on the ground outside the door. My comrade crept carefully
+up, raised the tiny roof to place, and with deft fingers put a twig
+under as a prop to hold it, then gently laid the pretty egg in the
+lace-lined nest.
+
+The next day we hurried out to see if the bird had resented our clumsy
+human help. But no; like the wise little creature she was, she had
+accepted the goods the gods had provided, and laid a second pearl beside
+the first. On our next visit, therefore--especially when we heard the
+gleeful song of her (supposed) mate--we came up with confidence to see
+our little oven-bird homestead. But, alas! somebody not so loving as we
+had been there; the two pretty eggs were gone, not a sign of them to be
+seen, and the nest was deserted. Yet we could not give up a hope that
+she would return, and day after day our steps turned of themselves to
+the oven-bird's nook. This rainy day, as a dozen times before, we found
+the little house still empty, and as before we turned sadly away, when
+suddenly a new sound broke the stillness. "Wuk! wuk! wuk! wa-a-a-ah!
+wa-a-a-ah!" it cried. It was the exact tone of a young baby, a naive
+and innocent cry. What could it be? Was some tramp mother hidden behind
+the bushes? Was it a new bird with this unbird-like cry? I was startled.
+But my friend was smiling at my dismay. She pointed to the crotch of a
+tree, and there a saucy gray squirrel lay sprawled out flat, uttering
+his sentiments in this abominable parody on the human baby cry. I
+believe the first squirrel learned it from some deserted infant, and
+handed it down as a choice joke upon us all. At any rate this performer
+was not suffering as his tones would indicate; for seeing that he had an
+audience more interested than he desired, he pulled himself together,
+whisked his bushy tail in our faces, and disappeared behind the trunk,
+from whence, in one instant, his head was thrust on one side and his
+tail on the other. And so he remained as long as we were in sight.
+
+This absurd episode changed our mood, and soon we tramped gayly back
+over the soft leaf-covered paths, fording the newly formed brooks,
+shaking showers upon ourselves from the saplings, and arriving at last,
+dripping but happy, on the veranda, where, after donning drier costumes,
+we spent the rest of the day watching the birds that came to the trees
+on the lawn.
+
+
+
+
+XIX.
+
+THE VAGARIES OF A WARBLER.
+
+
+The bird lover who carries a glass but never a gun, who observes but
+never shoots, sees many queer things not set down in the books; freaks
+and notions and curious fancies on the part of the feathered folk, which
+reveal an individuality of character as marked in a three-inch warbler
+as in a six-foot man. Some of the idiosyncrasies of our "little
+brothers" may be understood and explained from the human standpoint,
+others are as baffling as "the lady, or the tiger?"
+
+One lovely and lazy day last July--the fourth it was--a perfect day with
+not a cannon nor even a cracker to disturb its peace, my comrade and I
+turned our steps toward the woods, as we had for the thirty-and-three
+mornings preceding that one.
+
+This morning, however, was distinguished by the fact that we had a
+special object. In general, our passage through the woods was an
+open-eyed (and open-minded) loitering walk, alternated with periods of
+rest on our camp-stools, wherever we found anything of interest to
+detain us.
+
+On this Fourth of July we were in search of a warbler,--one of the most
+tantalizing, maddening pursuits a sensible human being can engage in.
+Fancy the difficulty of dragging one's self, not to mention the flying
+gown, camp-stool, opera-glass, note-book and other impedimenta through
+brush and brier, over logs, under fallen trees, in the swamp and through
+the tangle, to follow the eccentric movements of a scrap of a bird the
+size of one's finger, who proceeds by wings and not by feet, who goes
+over and not through all this growth.
+
+The corner to which we had traced our "black-throated blue," and where
+we suspected he had a nest, presented a little worse than the usual
+snarl of saplings and fallen branches and other hindrances, and the
+morning was warm. My heart failed me; and as my leader turned from the
+path I deserted. "You go in, if you like," I said; "I'll wait for you
+here."
+
+I seated myself, and she went on. For a few minutes I heard the cracking
+of twigs, the rustle of her movements against the bushes, the heavy
+tread of her big dog, and then all was silent.
+
+It was--did I say it was a fair morning?--not a breath of air was
+stirring. My seat was in a rather open spot at the foot of a big
+butternut tree; and I could look far up where its branches spread out
+wide and held their graceful leafy stars against the blue.
+
+In the woods I am never lonely; but I was not this morning alone. Near
+by a vireo kept up his tireless song; a gray squirrel peeped curiously
+at me from behind a trunk, his head showing on one side and his tail on
+the other; an oven-bird stole up behind to see what manner of creature
+this was, and far off I could hear the tanager singing.
+
+I did not notice the time; but after a while I became conscious of a low
+whistle which seemed to mingle with my reveries, and might have been
+going on for some minutes. Suddenly it struck me that it was the call of
+my fellow-student, and I started up the road wondering lazily if she had
+found the nest, and, to tell the truth, not caring much whether she had
+or not. For, to tell the whole truth, I had long ago steeled my heart
+against the fascinations of those bewitching little sprites who never
+stay two seconds in one spot, and sternly resolved never, _never_ to get
+interested in a warbler.
+
+My companion, however, was not so philosophical or so cool. She never
+could withstand the flit of a warbler wing; she would follow for half a
+day the absurd but enchanting little trill; and she regularly went mad
+(so to speak) at every migration, over the hundred or two, more or
+less, varieties that made this wood a resting-place on their way. Now, I
+could resist the birds by never looking at them, but I could not resist
+my friend's enthusiasm; so when she started on a warbler trail, I
+generally followed, as a matter of course. And I admit that the blue, to
+which we shortened his name, was a beauty and a charming singer.
+
+I passed quietly up the road toward the continued low calls, and soon
+saw the student, not far from the path, in a clearer spot than usual,
+sitting against a maple sapling, with her four-footed protector at her
+feet. When I came in sight she beckoned eagerly but silently, and I knew
+she had found something; probably the nest, I thought. As quietly as
+might be under the circumstances (namely, a passage through dead leaves,
+brittle twigs, unexpected hollows, etc.), I crept to her side, planted
+my camp-stool near hers, and sat down, in obedience to her imperious
+gesture.
+
+"Now look," she whispered, pointing to a nest in plain sight.
+
+"Why that's the redstart nest we saw yesterday from the road," I
+answered in the same tone, somewhat disappointed, it must be said, for
+redstart nests were on about every third sapling in the woods.
+
+"Yes; but see what's going on," she added, excitedly.
+
+"I see," I replied; "there is a young bird on the edge of the nest and
+its mother is feeding it;" and I was about to lower my glass and ask
+what there was surprising about that, when she went on:--
+
+"Keep looking! There! Who's that?"
+
+"Why that's--why--that's a chestnut-sided warbler! and--what?--he feeds
+the same baby!" I gasped, interested now as much as she.
+
+"There!" she exclaimed, triumphantly, "I wanted you to see that with
+your own eyes, since you scorn to look at the warblers. He has been
+doing that ever since I left you. I couldn't bear to let him out of my
+sight!"
+
+At that moment the warbler appeared again, and the wise redstart baby,
+who at least knew enough to take a good thing when it offered, opened
+his ever-ready mouth for the bit of a worm he brought.
+
+But lo! Madam, who had flown the moment before, returned in hot haste,
+and flung herself upon that small philanthropist as if he had brought
+poison; he vanished.
+
+Here was indeed a queer complication! It was a redstart nest without
+doubt, but who owned the baby? If he were a redstart, why did Mamma
+refuse help in her hard work, and why did the chestnut-sided insist on
+helping? If he were a chestnut-sided infant, how did he come in a
+redstart nest, and what had the redstart to do with him?
+
+These were the problems with which we had to grapple, and we settled
+ourselves to the work. We placed our seats against neighboring saplings,
+for backs, and we first critically examined that nest. It was surely a
+redstart's, though at an unusual height, perhaps twenty-five feet, as we
+had observed the day before when we had both noted in our books that we
+saw the male feeding the young. Even had the nest not been so plainly a
+redstart's, the air of that mother was unmistakable. She owned that nest
+and that baby, there could not be a doubt, and the dapper little
+personage with chestnut sides was an interloper.
+
+Nearly two hours we watched every movement of the small actors in this
+strange drama, and in seeking food they often came within six feet of us
+on our own level, so that we could not mistake their identity.
+
+The poor little mamma was in deep distress. Although her mate was
+absent, she resented her neighbor's efforts to help in her work, and
+dashed at him furiously every time she saw him come. Yet she could not
+stay on guard, for upon her alone devolved the duty of feeding that
+nestling! So she rushed frantically hither and thither in mad redstart
+fashion, brought her morsel and administered it, and then darted angrily
+after the enemy, who appeared as often as she did, every time with a
+tidbit for that pampered youngster.
+
+This double duty seemed almost too much for the redstart. Her feathers
+were ruffled, her tail opened and shut nervously, and at every interval
+that she could spare from her breathless exertions she uttered in low
+tones the redstart song, as though calling on that missing lord of hers.
+
+And where was that much needed personage? Had he been killed in these
+carefully protected and fenced woods, where no guns or collectors were
+allowed, and trespass notices were as plentiful as blackberries? Not by
+shooting we were sure; we should have heard a gun at the house. Had,
+then, an owl paid a twilight visit, and could a redstart be surprised?
+Or could, perchance, a squirrel have stolen upon him unaware? We shall
+never know. There's no morning paper to chronicle the tragedies in the
+bird world; and it would be too pitiful reading if there were.
+
+The most curious thing about the whole performance was the behavior of
+the chestnut-sided. His manner was as unruffled as Madam's was excited.
+The most just and honorable cause in the world could not give more
+absolute self-possession, more dignified persistence, than was shown by
+this wonderful atom of a bird. He acknowledged her right to reprove him,
+for he vanished before her outraged motherhood every time; but the
+moment the chase ended he fell to collecting food, and by the time his
+assailant had given her bantling a morsel, he was ready with another.
+
+What could be his motive? Was he a charity-mad personage, such as we
+sometimes see among bigger folk, determined to benefit his kind, whether
+they would or no? Had he, perchance, been bereaved of his own
+younglings, and felt moved to bestow his parental care upon somebody?
+Did he wish to experiment with some theory of his own on another's baby?
+Was it his aim to coax that young redstart to desert his family and
+follow after the traditions of the chestnut-sided?
+
+Alas! how easy to ask; how hard to answer!
+
+By this time I had become as absorbed in the drama as my companion. We
+forgot, or postponed, the blue, and gave the day to study of this case
+of domestic infelicity. Five long hours we sat there (morning and
+afternoon) before the stage on which the interesting but agitating play
+went on; and after tea, just before dark, we came out again. All this
+time the war between the two still raged, with no abatement of spirit.
+
+Breakfast was not loitered over on the following morning, and we hurried
+out to our post. The situation was changed a little. The youngster had
+made up his mind to go out into the world. He had moved as far as the
+branch, a few inches from the nest, and was still fed on both sides by
+his zealous providers. Mamma, however, though every time repelling her
+unwelcome assistant, was not so nervous. Perhaps she realized that a few
+hours more would end the trouble. She fed, she encouraged, and pretty
+soon, while we looked, the infant flew to the nearest tree.
+
+Now the chestnut-sided began to have difficulty in following up his
+self-imposed charge. He took to coming close upon the mother's heels to
+see where she went. But this course was attended with the difficulty
+that the instant she had fed she was ready to turn upon him, which she
+never failed to do.
+
+After several short flights about the tree, the young bird, grown
+bolder, perhaps by over-feeding, for surely never nestling was stuffed
+as that one was, attempted a more ambitious flight, failed, and came
+fluttering to the ground, much to the dismay of his mamma, who followed
+him closely all the way.
+
+This was our opportunity, the moment we had waited for; we must see that
+disputed baby!
+
+My comrade dropped everything and ran to the spot. A moment's scrambling
+about on the ground, a few careful "grabs" among the dead leaves, and
+she held the exhausted little fellow in her hand. He was not frightened;
+but his mother was greatly disturbed at first. We were too interested in
+this case to heed her, and indeed after a moment's demonstration she
+flew away and left him in our hands.
+
+We examined him minutely, and I noted his markings on the spot. There
+was no doubt about his being a redstart baby, as I had been convinced
+from the first. When we had settled this, the little one was placed on a
+branch, where he remained quite calmly, and we left him to his two
+attendants.
+
+The next morning we found the mother still hard at work in the same part
+of the woods (we knew her by some feathers she had lost from her
+breast), but the gallant little warbler was nowhere to be seen.
+
+
+
+
+XX.
+
+A CLEVER CUCKOO.
+
+        "Hark, the cuckoo, weatherwise,
+  Still hiding, farther onward woos you."
+
+
+The mysterious bird, around whose name cluster some strange facts as
+well as absurd fancies; shy and intolerant of the human race, yet bold
+in protecting his treasures; devoted and tender in his family relations,
+yet often known in the neighborhood where he passes his days as a mere
+"wandering voice,"--
+
+  "No bird, but an invisible thing,
+  A voice, a mystery,"--
+
+this bird, the cuckoo, was a stranger to me till one happy day last
+June, when I came upon him where he could not escape, beside his own
+nest.
+
+In returning from our daily visit to the woods that morning, my
+fellow-student turned down a narrow footway connecting the woods with
+the home-fields, and I followed. She had passed through half its length,
+her dog close behind her, when our eyes, ever searching the trees and
+bushes, fell almost at the same instant upon a nest, with the sitting
+bird at home. It was so near me that I could have touched it, being not
+more than two feet from the ground, and hardly farther from the path.
+
+Fearing to startle the little mother, whose frightened eyes were fixed
+upon us, we announced our mutual discovery by a single movement of the
+hand, and walked quietly past without pausing. Not until we reached the
+open fields at the end did my comrade whisper, "a cuckoo," and our
+hearts, if not our lips, sang with Wordsworth, "Thrice welcome, darling
+of the spring," for the nest of this shy bird we hardly dared hope to
+see.
+
+After the morning of our happy discovery the cuckoo path became part of
+our regular route home from the woods. Our first care was to dispel the
+fears of the bird, and accustom her to seeing us, so for several days we
+passed her without pausing, though we looked at her and spoke to her in
+low tones as we went by.
+
+Three times she flew at sight of us, but on the fourth morning she
+remained, though with tail straight up and ready for instant flight. But
+finding that we did not disturb her, she calmed down, and became so
+fearless that she did not move nor appear agitated when at last we did
+stop before her door, spoke to her, and identified her as the
+black-billed cuckoo.
+
+On the eighth day of our visits it happened that I went to the woods
+alone. I found the bird at home, as usual, and armed with an
+opera-glass, I placed myself at some distance to watch her. Half an hour
+passed before she stirred a feather, but I was not lonely. A
+mourning-warbler came about, eating and singing alternately, after the
+manner of his kind, and the pretty trill of the black-throated green
+warbler came out of the woods. Then a crow mamma created a diversion by
+helping herself to an egg for her baby's breakfast, when a robin and a
+vireo--curious pair!--took after her with loud cries of indignation and
+reproach.
+
+When this excitement was over, the trio had disappeared in the woods,
+and silence had fallen upon us again, I heard the cuckoo call at a
+little distance, and in a moment the bird himself alighted on a twig
+three feet above the nest. He was a beauty, but he appeared greatly
+excited. He threw up his tail till it pointed to the sky over his head,
+then let it slowly drop to the horizontal position. This he did three
+times, while he looked down upon his household, so absorbed that he did
+not see me at all.
+
+Then the patient sitter vacated her post, and he flew down to the nest.
+The top was hidden by leaves, so that I cannot positively affirm that he
+sat on the eggs, but it is certain that he remained perfectly silent
+and motionless there for forty-five minutes. Then I caught sight of
+Madam returning. She came in from the woods, behind and at the level of
+the nest; there was a moment's flutter of wings, and I saw that her mate
+was gone, and she in her usual place.
+
+The next day there was a change in the programme. It happened that I
+arrived when the mother was away, and the head of the household in
+charge. No sooner did I appear on the path than he flew off the nest
+with great hustle, thus betraying himself at once; but he did not desert
+his post of protector. He perched on a branch somewhat higher than my
+head, and five or six feet away, and began calling, a low "coo-oo." With
+every cry he opened his mouth very wide, as though to shriek at the top
+of his voice, and the low cry that came out was so ludicrously
+inadequate to his apparent effort that it was very droll. In this
+performance he made fine display of the inside of his mouth and throat,
+which looked, from where I stood, like black satin.
+
+The calls he made while I watched him sounded so far off that if I had
+not been within six feet of him, and seen him make them, I should never
+have suspected him:--
+
+                        "A cry
+  Which made me look a thousand ways,
+  In bush and tree and sky."
+
+Finding that his voice did not drive me away, the bird resorted to
+another method; he tried intimidation. First he threw himself into a
+most curious attitude, humping his shoulders and opening his tail like a
+fan, then spreading his wings and resting the upper end of them on his
+tail, which made at the back a sort of scoop effect. Every time he
+uttered the cry he lifted wings and tail together, and let them fall
+slowly back to their natural position. It was the queerest bird
+performance I ever saw.
+
+During all this excitement there sounded from a little distance a low
+single "coo," which, I suppose, was the voice of his mate. Not wishing
+to make a serious disturbance in the family, and seeing that he was not
+to be conciliated, I walked slowly on, looking in the nest as I passed.
+It contained one egg that looked like a robin's, and beside it a small
+bundle of what resembled black flesh stuck full of white pins. This,
+then, was the cuckoo baby; surely an odd one!
+
+On the third day after this experience we were fortunate enough again to
+find the nest uncovered. A second youngster lay beside the first, and
+the two entirely filled the nest. They were perhaps two and a half
+inches long, and resembled, as said above, mere lumps of flesh. After
+looking at the young family, we seated ourselves a little way off to
+wait for some one to come home.
+
+The place the cuckoo had chosen to nest was one of the most attractive
+spots on the grounds, an opening in the woods in which, after the loss
+of the trees, had grown up a thicket of wild berries. The bushes were
+nearly as high as one's head, and so luxuriant that they made an
+impenetrable tangle, through which paths were cut in all directions, and
+kept open by much work each year.
+
+In the middle of the opening was a clump of larger saplings, around the
+foot of two or three very tall old basswood-trees, part of the original
+forest. It was the paradise of small fruits. Early in the season
+elderberries ripened, and offered food to whoever would come. Before
+they were gone the bushes were red with the raspberry, and blackberries
+were ready to follow; choke-cherries completed the list, and lasted till
+into the fall. The insect enemies of fruit were there in armies.
+
+Its constant supply of food, its shelter from the winds on every side,
+and its admirable hiding-places for nests, made this warm, sunny corner
+the chosen home of many birds. Warblers were there from early spring,
+heard, though not always seen. Veeries nested on its borders,
+woodpeckers haunted the dead trees at the edge, and all the birds of the
+neighborhood paid visits to it.
+
+We had not waited long when the head of the cuckoo family appeared. He
+saw us instantly, and, I regret to say, was no more reconciled to our
+presence than he had been on the previous occasion; but he showed his
+displeasure in a different way. He rushed about in the trees, crying,
+"cuck-a-ruck, cuck-a-ruck," running out even to the tip of slender
+branches that seemed too slight to bear his weight. When his feelings
+entirely overcame him he flew away, and though we remained fifteen
+minutes, no one came to the nest.
+
+The day after this display of unkindly feeling toward us we passed down
+the cuckoo path, saw Madam on the nest, and at once determined to wait
+and see what new demonstration her mate would invent to express his
+emotions. My comrade threw herself down full length on the dead leaves
+beside the path, where she could bask in the sunlight, while I sat in
+the shade close by.
+
+After some time we saw the cuckoo stealing in by a roundabout back way
+through the low growth in the edge of the wood. He was coming with
+supplies, for a worm dangled from his beak. He had nearly reached the
+nest--in fact was not two feet away--when his eyes fell upon us. He
+stopped as if paralyzed. We remained motionless, almost breathless, but
+he did not take his eyes off us, nor attempt to relieve himself of that
+worm. Still we did not move; arms began to ache, feet tingled with
+"going to sleep," every joint stiffened, and I began to be afraid I
+should find myself turned to stone. Still that bird never moved an
+eyelid, so far as we could see.
+
+It was fully twenty-five minutes that we three stared at each other, all
+struck dumb. But Nature asserted herself in us before it did in him. The
+sun was hot, and the mosquitoes far from dumb. We yielded as gracefully
+as we could under the circumstances, and left him there as motionless as
+a "mounted specimen" in a glass case.
+
+The next morning we started out rather earlier than usual, half
+expecting to find Master Cuckoo grown to that perch. It appeared,
+however, that he had torn himself away, for he was not to be seen. The
+little mother, who was on the nest, had readily learned that we intended
+no harm, but her peppery little spouse learned nothing; he was just as
+unreconciled to us the last day as the first.
+
+This time he tried to keep out of sight. First we heard his call far
+off, then a low "cuck-a-ruck" quite near, to which she replied with a
+gentle "coo-oo" hardly above her breath.
+
+It was soothing, but it did not altogether soothe. He came up from
+behind us with another dangling worm in his mouth, slipped silently
+through the bushes to the nest, and in a moment departed by the back way
+without a word. Then we went nearer, looked once more upon the shy but
+brave little mother, and went our way.
+
+We did not suspect it, but that was our last sight of the cuckoo family
+at home; the next day the place was empty and deserted.
+
+I was smitten with remorse. Were we the cause of the calamity? Had the
+poor birds carried off the babies? Or had, perchance, another nest
+tragedy occurred? We looked carefully; there were no signs of a
+struggle. They had apparently flown in peace. Yet six days before one
+was still in the egg and the other newly hatched. Only two days ago the
+pair looked like tiny black cushions covered with white pins, and not a
+quarter the size of the parents. Moreover, they had been sat upon every
+day.
+
+In this painful uncertainty we were obliged to leave the matter; but
+although we saw no more of them, they did not pass out of our minds.
+Every day we looked in the woods and listened for cuckoo voices, but
+every day we were disappointed, until about eleven days later.
+
+We were walking slowly down what we called the veery road in the woods,
+far over the other side from the cuckoo's nest, when we heard a very
+low but strange baby cry in some thick bushes. It was a constant
+repetition of one note, a gentle "tut, tut, tut."
+
+We were naturally eager to see the youngster, and we carefully
+approached the spot. As we came near, a cuckoo flew up, scrambled
+through a tree, and disappeared. Could it be a cuckoo baby we had heard?
+In an instant the fugitive seemed to think better of her intention to
+fly. Perhaps she was conscience-smitten for deserting the little one,
+for she returned in plain sight, though at some distance. She began at
+once calling and posturing, clearly for our benefit. We, of course,
+understood her tactics. She wished to draw us away from the neighborhood
+of her infant, and as it was impossible to penetrate the thicket, and we
+did not enjoy torturing an anxious mother, we decided to yield to her
+wishes, and see what she would do.
+
+She cried every moment, "tut, tut, tut," in a low tone, and ten or
+twelve times repeated. At the same time she lifted her long tail, and
+slowly let it fall, with a beautiful and graceful motion. She crouched
+on the branch, and put her head down to it, then suddenly rose and threw
+up her head and tail, making herself as conspicuous and as remarkable as
+she could. We moved a little toward her. That encouraged her to go on;
+and easily, in a sort of careless, inconsequent way, she hopped to the
+next branch farther. So we let ourselves be drawn away, she keeping up
+all the time the low call, while the infant, which we are sure was
+there, had become utterly silent.
+
+She was a beautiful creature, a picture of grace; and when she had
+beguiled us some distance away from where we heard the baby-cry, she
+suddenly slipped behind a branch and was gone; and we felt repaid for
+missing the young one by the beautiful exhibition she had made of
+herself. We never saw her again.
+
+
+
+
+XXI.
+
+TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS.
+
+
+Last summer I made the acquaintance of an outlaw; an unfortunate
+fellow-creature under the ban of condemnation, burdened with an
+opprobrious name, and by general consent given over to the tender
+mercies of any vagabond who chooses to torture him or take his life. One
+would naturally sympathize with the "under dog," but when, instead of
+one of his peers as opponent, a poor little fellow, eight inches long,
+has arrayed against him the whole human race, with all its devices for
+catching and killing, his chances for life and the pursuit of happiness
+are so small that any lover of justice must be roused to his defense, if
+defense be possible.
+
+The individual of whom I speak is, properly, the yellow-bellied
+woodpecker, though he is more commonly known as the sapsucker, in some
+places the squealing sapsucker; and I hailed with joy his presence in a
+certain protected bit of woods, a little paradise for birds and bird
+lovers, where, if anywhere, he could be studied. There is some propriety
+in applying to him the strange epithet "squealing," I must allow, for
+the bird has a peculiar voice, nasal enough for the conventional Brother
+Jonathan; but "sapsucker" is, in the opinion of many who have studied
+his ways, undeserved. Dr. Merriam, even while admitting that the birds
+do taste the sap, says positively, "It is my firm belief that their
+chief object in making these holes is to secure the insects which gather
+about them."
+
+My introduction to the subject of my study took place just after sundown
+on a beautiful June evening. We were riding up from the railway station,
+three miles away. The horses had climbed to the top of the last hill,
+and trotted gayly through a belt of fragrant woods which reached like an
+arm around from the forest behind, as if lovingly inclosing the
+attractive scene,--a pleasant, old-fashioned homestead, with ample lawn
+sloping down toward the valley we had left, and looking away over low
+hills to the apparently unbroken forests of the Adirondacks.
+
+At this moment there arose a loud, strange cry, of distress it seemed,
+and I turned hastily to see a black and white bird, with bright red
+crown and throat, bounding straight up the trunk of an elm-tree,
+throwing back his head at every jerk with a comical suggestion of
+Jack's "Hitchety! hatchety! up I go!" as he joyously mounted his
+beanstalk, in the old nursery story. There was surely nothing amiss with
+this little fellow, and, knowing almost nothing of the
+
+                  "Greys, whites, and reds,
+  Of pranked woodpeckers that ne'er gossip out,
+  But always tap at doors and gad about,"
+
+I eagerly demanded his name, and was delighted to hear in answer, "The
+sapsucker." I was delighted because I hoped to see for myself whether
+the bird merited the offensive name bestowed upon him, or was the victim
+of hasty generalization from careless observation or insufficient data,
+like others of his race. The close investigations of scientific men have
+reversed many popular decisions. They have proved the crow to be the
+farmer's friend, most of the hawks and owls to be laborers in his
+interest, the kingbird to fare almost entirely upon destructive insects
+rather than bees, and other birds to be more sinned against than
+sinning.
+
+The first thing noted was the sapsucker's peculiar food-seeking habit.
+One bird made the lawn a daily haunt, and we, living chiefly on the
+veranda, saw him before us at all hours, from dawn to dusk, and thus had
+the best possible chance to catch him in mischief, if to mischief he
+inclined. He generally made his appearance flying in bounding, wave-like
+fashion, uttering his loud mournful cry, which, though an apparent
+wail, was evidently not inspired by sadness. Alighting near the foot of
+a tree-trunk, with many repetitions of his complaining note, he gayly
+bobbed his way up the bark highway as if it were a ladder. When he
+reached the branches, he flew to another tree. This bird's custom of
+delivering his striking call as he approached and mounted a tree not far
+from his "food tree" may be a newly acquired habit; for Dr. Merriam, who
+observed this species ten years ago on the same place, says that he
+"never heard a note of any description from them, either while in the
+neighborhood of these trees, or in flying to and fro between them and
+the forests." On his own trees the sapsucker was not in such haste, but
+lingered about the prepared rings, evidently taking his pick of the
+insects attracted there.
+
+The array of traps prepared for the woodpecker's use was most curious,
+and readily explained how he came by his name. The clever little workman
+had selected for his purpose two trees. One was a large elm, and around
+its trunk, about fifteen feet from the ground, he had laboriously cut
+with his sharp beak several rings of cups. These receptacles were
+somewhat less than half an inch in diameter, and nearly their own width
+apart, and the rings encircled the trunk as regularly as though laid
+out with mechanical instruments. His second depot of supplies was one of
+a close group of mountain ashes, which seemed to spring from one root,
+and were thickly shaded by leaves to the ground. The elm would naturally
+attract the high-flying insects, and the ash those which stay nearer the
+earth, though I do not presume to say that was the bird's intention in
+so arranging them. The mountain-ash trunk was perforated in a different
+way from the elm, the holes being in lines up and down, and the whole
+trunk covered five or six feet above the root. These places were not at
+all moist or sticky on the several occasions when I examined them, and
+both trees were in a flourishing condition.
+
+The habit of the author of this elaborate arrangement was to fly from
+one tree to the other almost constantly. It appeared to lookers-on that
+he visited the traps on one and secured whatever was caught or lingered
+there, then went to the other for the same purpose; thus allowing
+insects a chance to settle on each while he was absent. At almost any
+hour of the day he could be found vigorously carrying on his insect hunt
+in this singular fashion.
+
+It was too late in the season to see the sapsucker in his most
+frolicsome humor, although occasionally we met in the woods two of them
+in a lively mood, eagerly discussing in garrulous tones their own
+private affairs, or chasing each other with droll, taunting cries, some
+of which resembled the boy's yell, "oy-ee," but others defied
+description. During courtship, observes Dr. Merriam, they are
+inexpressibly comical, with queer rollicking ways and eccentric pranks,
+making the woods ring with their extraordinary voices. At this time,
+early in June, the season of woodpecker wooing was past. Each little
+couple had built a castle in the air, and set up a household of its own,
+somewhere in the woods surrounding the house.
+
+The two storehouses on the lawn seemed to belong to one family, whose
+labor alone had prepared them; certainly they were the property of the
+sapsuckers. But the bird world, like the human, has its spoilers. A
+frequent visitor to the elm, on poaching bent, was a humming-bird, who
+treated the beguiling cups like so many flowers, hovering lightly before
+them, and testing one after another in regular order. The owner
+naturally objected, and if present flew at the dainty robber; but the
+elusive birdling simply moved to another place, not in the least awed by
+his comparatively clumsy assailant. Large flies, perhaps bees also,
+buzzed around the tempting bait, and doubtless many paid with their
+lives for their folly.
+
+The most unexpected plunderer of the sapsucker stores was a gray
+squirrel, who lay spread out flat against the trunk as though glued
+there, body, arms, legs, and even tail, with head down and closely
+pressed against the bark. I cannot positively affirm that he was sucking
+the sap or feeding upon the insects attracted to it, but it is a fact
+that his mouth rested exactly over one of the rings of holes; and his
+position seemed very satisfactory, for some reason, for he hung there
+motionless so long that I began to fear he was dead. All these petty
+pilferers may possibly have regarded the treasure as nature's own
+provision, like the flowers, but one visitor to his neighbor's magazine
+certainly knew better. This was the brilliant cousin of the sapsucker,
+the red-headed woodpecker, whose vagaries I shall speak of a little
+later.
+
+Nothing about the tri-colored family is more interesting than its habit
+of drumming,--
+
+          "The ceaseless rap
+  Of the yellow-hammer's tap,
+  Tip-tap, tip-tap, tip-tap-tip.
+  'Tis the merry pitter-patter
+  Of the yellow-hammer's tap."
+
+Whether or not it is mere play is perhaps yet an open question. The
+drumming of the sapsucker, one of the most common sounds of the woods
+and lawn, seemed sometimes simply for amusement, but again it appeared
+exceedingly like a signal. A bird frequently settled himself in plain
+sight of us, on one of the trespass notices in the woods, and spent
+several minutes in that occupation, changing his place now and then, and
+thus producing different sounds, whether with that intention or not. Now
+he would tap on top of the board, again down one side, and then on a
+corner, but always on the edge. Nor was it a regular and monotonous
+rapping; it was curiously varied. One performance that I carefully noted
+down at the moment reminded me of the click of a telegraph instrument.
+It was "rat-tat-tat-t-t-t-t-rat-tat,"--the first three notes rather
+quick and sharp, the next four very rapid, and the last two quite slow.
+After tapping, the bird always seemed to listen. Often while I was
+watching one at his hammering, a signal of the same sort would come from
+a distance. Sometimes my bird replied; sometimes he instantly flew in
+the direction from which it came. Around the house the woodpeckers
+selected particular spots to use as drums, generally a bit of tin on a
+roof, or an eave-gutter of the same metal. A favorite place was the
+hindquarters of a gorgeous gilded deer that swung with the wind on the
+roof of the barn.
+
+So closely were they watched that the sapsuckers themselves were like
+old acquaintances before the babes in the woods began to make
+themselves heard. No sooner had these little folk found their voices
+than they made the woods fairly echo. Cry-babies in feathers I thought I
+knew before, but the young woodpecker outdoes anything in my experience.
+No wonder the woodpecker mamma sets up her nursery out of the reach of
+prowlers of all sorts; so loud and so persistent are the demands of her
+nestlings that they would not be safe an hour, if they could be got at.
+The tone, too, must always arrest attention, for it is of the nasal
+quality I have mentioned. The first baby whisper, hardly heard at the
+foot of the tree, has a squeaky twang, which strengthens with the
+infant's strength, and the grown-up murmurs of love and screams of war
+are of the same order.
+
+It was during the nest-feeding days that we discovered most of the
+sapsucker homesteads; for, having many nests nearer our own level to
+study, we never sought them, and noticed them only when the baby voices
+attracted our attention. The home that apparently belonged to our bird
+of the lawn was beautifully placed in a beech-tree heavy with foliage.
+At first we thought the owner an eccentric personage, who had violated
+all sapsucker traditions by building in a living tree; but, on looking
+closely, it was evident that the top of the tree had been blown off,
+and from that break the trunk was dead two or three feet down. In that
+part was the opening, and the foliage that nearly hid it grew on the
+large branches below. Most of the nests, however, were in the customary
+dead trunks, on which we could gently rap, and bring out whoever was at
+home to answer our call.
+
+Young woodpeckers are somewhat precocious; or, to speak more correctly,
+they stay in the nest till almost mature. We see in this family no
+half-fledged youngster wandering aimlessly about, unable to fly or to
+help itself, a sight very common among the feathered folk whose homes
+are nearer the ground. One morning, a young bird, not yet familiar with
+the mysteries of the world about him, flew into the open window of a
+room in the house, and for an hour we had a fine opportunity to study
+him near at hand. The moment he entered he went to the cornice, and
+although he flew around freely, he did not descend so low as the top of
+the window, wide open for his benefit. He was not in the least afraid or
+embarrassed by his staring audience, nor did he beat himself against the
+wall and the furniture, as would many birds in his position; in fact, he
+showed unusual self-possession and self-reliance. He was exceedingly
+curious about his surroundings: tapped the wall, tested the top of
+picture frames, drummed on the curtain cornice, and closely examined
+the ceiling. He was beautifully dressed in soft gray all mottled and
+spotted and barred with white, but he had not as yet put on the red cap
+of his fathers. While we watched him, he heard outside a sapsucker cry,
+to which he listened eagerly; then he drummed quite vigorously on the
+cornice, as if in reply. It was not till he must have been very hungry
+that he blundered out of the window, as he had doubtless blundered in.
+
+The beauty of the drumming family, at least in that part of the country,
+is the red-headed woodpecker, which it happened I did not know. The
+first time I saw one, he was out for an airing with his mate, one lovely
+evening in June. The pair were scrambling about, as if in play, on the
+trunk of a tall maple-tree across the lane. They did not welcome our
+visit, nor our perhaps rather rude way of gazing at them; for one flew
+away, and the other perched on the topmost dead branch of a tree a
+little farther off, and proceeded to express his mind by a scolding
+"kr-r-r," accompanied by violent bows toward us. Finding his
+demonstration unavailing, he soon followed his mate, and weeks passed
+before we saw him again, although we often walked down the lane with the
+hope of doing so.
+
+One beautiful morning, after the hay had been cut from the meadow, and
+all the hidden nests we had looked at and longed for while grass was
+growing, were opened to us, I had taken my comfortable folding-chair to
+a specially delightful nook between a clump of evergreens, which
+screened it from the house, and a row of maples, elms, and other trees,
+much frequented by birds. Close before me was a beautiful hawthorn-tree,
+in which a pair of kingbirds had long ago built their nest. On one side
+I could look over to an impenetrable, somewhat swampy thicket, where
+song sparrows and indigo birds nested; on the other, past the
+picturesque old-fashioned arbor, half buried under vines and untrimmed
+trees, far down the pretty carriage-drive between young elms and
+flowering shrubs, where the bobolink had raised her brood, and the
+meadow lark had chanted his vesper hymn for us all through June. Many
+winged strangers came to feast on the treasures uncovered by the
+hay-cutter, and then the shy red-head showed himself on our grounds. To
+my surprise, he was searching the freshly cut stubble not at all like a
+woodpecker, but hobbling about most awkwardly, half flying, half
+hopping, seeking some delectable morsel, which, when found, he carried
+to the side of a tree-trunk, thrust into a crack, and ate at his
+leisure. The object I saw him treat in this way was as large as a bee,
+and he was some time in disposing of it, even after it was anchored in
+the crack. Then, observing that, although a long way off, I was
+interested in his doings, he slipped around behind the trunk, and peered
+at me first from one side, then in an instant from the other.
+
+The next performance with which this bird entertained me was poaching
+upon his cousin's preserves. Sitting one evening on the veranda, looking
+over the meadow, I heard his low "kr-r-r," and saw him alight upon the
+sapsucker's elm. Whether he stumbled upon the feast or went with malice
+aforethought, he was not slow to appreciate the charms of his position.
+It may have been the nectar from the tree, or the minute victims of its
+attractions, I could not tell which, but something pleased him, for he
+devoted himself to the task of exploring the tiny cups his industrious
+relative had carved, driving away one of the younger members of the
+family already in possession. The young bird could not refuse to go
+before the big beak and determined manner of the stranger, but he did
+refuse to stay away; and every time he was ousted he returned to the
+tree, though he settled on a different place. Before the red-head had
+shown any signs of exhausting his find, the sapsucker himself appeared,
+and at once fell upon his bigger cousin with savage cries. Disturbed so
+rudely from his pleasing occupation, the intruder retired before the
+attack, though he protested vigorously; and so great was the fascination
+of the spot, that he returned again and again, every time to go through
+the same process of being driven away.
+
+The raspberry hedge before my windows was the decoy that gave me my best
+chance to study the red-headed woodpecker. Day after day, as the berries
+ripened, I watched the dwellers of wood and meadow drawn to the rich
+feast, and at last, one morning, to my great joy, I saw the interesting
+drummer alight on a post overlooking the loaded vines. He plainly felt
+himself a stranger, and not certain of his reception by the residents of
+the neighborhood, for he crouched close to the fence, and looked warily
+about on every side. He had been there but a few moments when a robin,
+self-constituted dictator of that particular corner of the premises,
+came down a few feet from him, as if to inquire his business. The
+woodpecker acknowledged the courtesy by drawing himself up very straight
+and bowing. The bow impressed, not to say awed, the native bird. He
+stood staring blankly, till the new-comer proclaimed his errand by
+dropping into the bushes, helping himself to a berry, and returning to
+the fence to dispose of his plunder. This was too much; the outraged
+redbreast dashed suddenly over the head of the impertinent visitor,
+almost touching it as he passed. The woodpecker kept his ground in spite
+of this demonstration, and I learned how a bird accustomed to rest, and
+even to work, hanging to the trunk of a tree, would manage to pluck and
+eat fruit from a bush. He first sidled along the top of the board fence,
+looking down, till he had selected his berry. Then he half dropped, half
+flew, into the bushes, and sometimes seized the ripe morsel instantly,
+without alighting, but generally hung, back down, on a stalk which bent
+and swayed with his weight, while he deliberately gathered the fruit. He
+then returned to the fence, laid his prize down, and pecked it apart,
+making three or four bites of it. After some practice he learned to
+swallow a berry whole, though it often required three or four attempts,
+and seemed almost more than he could manage. When he had accomplished
+this feat, he sat with his head drawn down into his shoulders, as though
+he found himself uncomfortably stuffed. Having eaten two or three
+raspberries, our distinguished visitor always picked another, with which
+he flew away,--doubtless for the babies growing up in some dead tree
+across the lane.
+
+The little difficulty with the robin was easily settled by the stranger.
+Somewhat later in that first day, he took his revenge for the insulting
+dash over him by turning the tables and sweeping over the lofty head of
+the astonished robin, who ducked ingloriously, in his surprise, and
+called out, "Tut! tut!" as who should say, "Can such things be?" After
+that Master Robin undertook a closer surveillance of that highway the
+fence, and might be seen at all hours perched on the tall gatepost,
+looking out for callers in brilliant array, or running along its whole
+length to see that no wily woodpecker was hiding in the bushes. He could
+not be on guard every moment, for his nursery up under the eaves of the
+barn was full of clamorous babies, and he was obliged to give some
+attention to them; but the red-head was not afraid of him, and, finding
+the fruit to his taste, he soon became a daily guest.
+
+Sometimes the spouse of the gay little fellow came also. She was always
+greeted by a low-whispered "kr-r-r," and the husky-toned conversation
+between the two was kept up so long as both were there. Now, too, as the
+male began to feel at home, I saw more of his odd ways. His attitudes
+were especially comical. Sometimes he clung to the edge of the top
+board, his tail pressed against it, his wings drooped and spread a
+little, exposing his whole back, and thus remained for perhaps ten
+minutes. Again he flattened himself out on top of a post for a sun
+bath. He sprawled and spread himself, every feather standing independent
+of its neighbor, till he looked as if he had been smashed flat, and more
+like some of the feather monstrosities with which milliners disfigure
+their hats than a living bird.
+
+Another curious habit of my versatile guest was his fly-catching. It is
+already notorious that the golden-wing is giving up the profession of
+woodpecker and becoming a ground bird; it is equally patent to one who
+observes him that the red-head is learning the trade of fly-catching.
+Frequently, during the weeks that I had him under observation, I saw him
+fly up in the air and return to the fence, exactly like the kingbird.
+
+All the time I had been making this pleasing acquaintance I had longed
+in vain to find the red-head's nest. It was probably in the pasture in
+which we had first met him, where the somewhat spirited cattle in
+possession prevented my explorations. I hoped at least to see his young
+family; but July days passed away, and though the bonny couple spent
+much time among the raspberries, they always carried off the nestlings'
+share.
+
+In the very last hours of my stay, after trunks were packed, fate
+relented, and I spent nearly the whole day studying the "tricks and
+manners" of a red-headed baby. I had returned from my last morning's
+walk in the woods, and was seated by my window, thinking half sadly that
+my summer was ended, when I saw the woodpecker come to the raspberries,
+gather one, and fly away with it. Instead, however, of heading, as
+usual, for the woods across the pasture, he alighted on a fence near by.
+A small dark head rose above the edge of a board, opened a bill, and
+received the berry in it. Instantly I turned my glass upon that
+meek-looking head. So soon as the old bird disappeared the young one
+came up in sight, and in a few moments flew over to the nearer fence,
+beside the bushes. Then one of the parents returned, fed him two or
+three times, apparently to show him that berries grew on bushes, and not
+in the beak, and then departed with an air that said, "There, my son,
+are the berries; help yourself!"
+
+Left now to his own devices, the little woodpecker was my study for
+hours. He was like his parents, except that he was gray where they were
+red, and the white on the wings was barred off with a dark color which
+on theirs did not appear. Like young creatures the world over, he at
+once began to amuse himself, working at a hole in the top of a post,
+digging into it vehemently, and at last, after violent effort, bringing
+out a stick nearly as long as himself. This he brandished about as a
+child flourishes a whip, and presently laid it down, worried it, flung
+it about, and had a rare frolic with it. Tiring of that, he closely
+examined the fence, going over it inch by inch, and pecking every mark
+and stain on it. When startled by a bird flying over or alighting near
+him, he sprang back instantly, slipped over behind the fence or post,
+and hung on by his claws, leaving only his head in sight. He was a true
+woodpecker in his manners; bowing to strangers who appeared, driving
+away one of his sapsucker cousins who came about, and keeping up a low
+cry of "kr-r-r" almost exactly like his parents. He showed also great
+interest in a party of goldfinches, who seemed to have gone mad that
+morning.
+
+Finally the thought of berries struck the young red-head. He began to
+consider going for them. One could fairly see the idea grow in his mind.
+He leaned over and peered into the bushes; he hitched along the fence, a
+little nearer, bent over again, then came down on the side of the board,
+and hung there, with body inclined toward the fruit. After many such
+feints, he actually did drop to the second board, and a little later
+secured a berry, which he took to the top of the post to eat. In spite
+of the fact that he was amply able to help himself, as he proved, he
+still demanded food when his parents came near, bowing and calling
+eagerly, but not fluttering his wings, as do most young birds.
+
+Nearly all day the little fellow entertained himself; working
+industriously on the fence, hammering the posts as if to keep in
+practice, as children play at their parents' life work, and varying
+these occupations with occasional excursions into the bushes for
+berries. The notion of flying away from where he had been left never
+appeared to enter his head. He seemed to be an unusually well-balanced
+young person, and intelligent beyond his years,--days, I should say.
+
+
+
+
+XXII.
+
+FROM MY WINDOW.
+
+
+The best place I have found for spying upon the habits of birds is
+behind a blind. If one can command a window with outside blinds, looking
+upon a spot attractive to the feathered world, he will be sure, sooner
+or later, to see every bird of the vicinity. If he will keep the blinds
+closed and look only through the opened slats, he will witness more of
+their unconstrained free ways than can possibly be seen by a person
+within their sight, though he assume the attitude and the stolidity of a
+wooden figure. Says our nature-poet, Emerson:--
+
+  "You often thread the woods in vain
+  To see what singer piped the strain.
+  Seek not, and the little eremite
+  Flies forth and gayly sings in sight."
+
+And the bird student can testify to the truth of the verse.
+
+Many times, after having spent the morning in wandering about in the
+bird haunts of a neighborhood, I have returned to my room to write up my
+note-book, and have seen more of birds and bird life in an hour from my
+window than during the whole morning's stroll.
+
+One of my windows, last summer, looked out upon an ideal bird corner: a
+bit of grass, uncut till very late, with a group of trees and shrubs at
+the lower boundary, and an old board fence, half buried in luxuriant
+wild raspberry bushes, running along one side. It was a neglected spot,
+the side yard of a farmhouse; and I was careful not to enter it myself
+so often as to suggest to the birds that they were likely to see people.
+It had the further advantage of being so near the woods surrounding the
+house, that the shy forest birds were attracted to it.
+
+No sooner would I seat myself, pen in hand, than chirps and twitters
+would come from the trees, a bird alight on the fence, or a red squirrel
+come out to sun himself. Of course the pen gave way to the opera-glass
+in a moment, and often not a line of the note-book got itself written
+till birds and squirrels had gone to bed with the sun.
+
+The group of trees which bounded my view at the end of this outdoor
+study I called the "locust group." It consisted of a locust or two,
+surrounded by a small but close growth of lesser trees and shrubs that
+made a heavy mass of foliage. There were a few young ashes, two or three
+half-grown maples, a shadberry bush, and wild raspberry vines to carry
+the varied foliage to the ground. Inside this beautiful tangle of
+Nature's own arranging, was a perfect tent, so thickly grown near the
+ground that a person could hardly penetrate it without an axe, but open
+and roomy above, with branches and twigs enough to accommodate an army
+of birds. Behind that waving green curtain of leaves took place many
+dramas I longed to see; but I knew that my appearance there would be a
+signal for the whole scene to vanish, and with flit of wings the
+_dramatis personae_ to make their exit. So I tried to possess my soul in
+patience, and to content myself with the flashes and glimpses I could
+catch through an opening here and there in the leafy drapery.
+
+At one corner of the group stood a small dead tree. This was the
+phoebe's customary perch, and on those bare branches--first or
+last--every visitor was sure to appear. On the lower branch the robin
+paused, with worm in mouth, on the way to his two-story nest under the
+eaves of the barn. On the top spire the warbler baby sat and stared at
+the world about it, till its anxious parent could coax it to a more
+secluded perch. From a side branch the veery poured his wonderful song,
+and the cheery little song sparrow uttered his message of good will for
+all to hear and heed. Here the red-headed woodpecker waited, with low
+"k-r-r-r-r" and many bows to the universe in general, to see if the way
+were clear for him to go to the fence. Nothing is so good to bring birds
+into sight as an old fence or a dead tree. On the single leafless branch
+at the top of an old apple-tree the student will generally see, at one
+time or another, every bird in an orchard.
+
+This dead tree of the locust group was the regular perch of "the
+loneliest of its kind," the phoebe, whose big chuckle-head and high
+shoulders gave him the look of an old man, bent with age. His outline
+one could never mistake, even though he were but a silhouette against
+the sky. One of these birds could nearly always be seen on the lowest
+branch pursuing his business of fly-catcher, and I learned more of the
+singularly reserved creature than I ever knew before. I found, contrary
+to my expectation, that he had a great deal to say for himself, aside
+from the professional performance at the peak of the barn roof which
+gives him his name.
+
+  "Phoebe is all it has to say
+  In plaintive cadence o'er and o'er,"
+
+sings the poet, but he had not so close acquaintance with him as I
+enjoyed behind my blind. There were two mud cottages in the
+neighborhood, and two pairs of birds to occupy them, and no phoebe of
+spirit will tolerate in silence another of his kind near him. Sparrows
+of all sorts might come about; juncos and chickadees, thrushes and
+warblers, might alight on his chosen tree,--rarely a word would he say;
+but let a phoebe appear, and there began at once a war of words. It
+might be mere friendly talk, but it sounded very much like vituperation
+and "calling names," and I noticed that it ended in a chase and the
+disappearance of one of them.
+
+Again, whenever a phoebe alighted on the fence he made a low but
+distinct remark that sounded marvelously like "cheese-it," and several
+times the mysterious bird treated me to a very singular performance. He
+hovered like a humming-bird close before a nest, looking into it and
+uttering a loud strange cry, like the last note of "phoebe" repeated
+rapidly, as "be-be-be." Was it derision, complaint, or a mere neighborly
+call? This was not for the benefit of his own family, for he did it
+before the robin's nest. I thought at first he meant mischief to the
+young robins, but although he approached very near he did not actually
+touch them.
+
+The loudest note this bird uttered was, of course, his well-known
+"phoebe," which he delivered from the peak of the barn (never from the
+dead tree) with an emphasis that proclaimed to all whom it might
+concern that he had something on his mind. It was plain that he was a
+person of cares; indeed, his whole bearing was that of one with no
+nonsense about him, with serious duties to perform. I wonder if these
+birds are ever playful! Even the babies are dignified and
+self-contained. Phoebes in a frolic would be a rare sight. Of the two
+nests whose owners I had to study, one was on a low beam in the
+cow-barn, where a person might look in; the other under the eaves of a
+farm-building close by.
+
+The special policeman of the group and its environs was a robin, who
+lived in a two-story nest under the eaves of the hay-barn. This bird,
+after the manner of his family, constituted himself regulator and
+dictator. He lived in peace with the ordinary residents, but took it
+upon himself to see that no stranger showed his head near the spot. He
+chased the crow blackbird who happened to fly over on business of his
+own, and by calls for help brought the whole robin population about the
+ears of the intruder. He also headed the mob of redbreasts that
+descended one morning upon a meek-looking half-grown kitten, who chanced
+to cast its innocent eyes upon a robin baby under the trees on another
+side of the house. The youngster could fly with ease, but he preferred
+to stay on the ground, for he quickly returned there when I put him on
+a low branch; and when a robin makes up his mind, arguments are useless.
+The same robin bullied the red-headed woodpecker, and flew at the
+kingbird when he brought his young family up to taste the raspberries.
+
+One visitor there was, however, to the fence and the locusts whom Master
+Robin did not molest. When a prolonged, incisive "pu-eep" in the martial
+and inspiring tone of the great-crested fly-catcher broke the silence, I
+observed that the robin always had plenty of his own business to attend
+to. I admire this beautiful bird, perhaps because he is the inveterate
+enemy of the house sparrow, and almost the only one who actually keeps
+that little bully in his proper place. There is to me something pleasing
+in the bearing of the great-crest, who, though of few inches, carries
+himself in a manner worthy of an eagle. Even the play of a pair of them
+on the tops of the tallest dead trees in the woods, though merry enough
+with loud joyful cries, has a certain dignity and circumspection about
+it uncommon in so small a bird.
+
+A pair of great-crests were frequent visitors to the fence, where they
+were usually very quiet. But one day as the male flew over from the
+woods, his call was answered by a loud-voiced canary, whose cage hung
+all summer outside the kitchen door. The stranger alighted on a tree,
+apparently astonished to be challenged, but he replied at once. The
+canary, who was out of sight on the other side of the cottage, answered,
+and the droll conversation was kept up for some time; the woods bird
+turning his head this way and that, eager to see his social neighbor,
+but unable, of course, to do so.
+
+A little later in the season, when baby birds began to fly about, the
+locust group became even more attractive. Its nearness to the woods, as
+already mentioned, made it convenient for forest birds, and its
+seclusion and supply of food were charms they could not resist. First of
+the fledglings to appear were a family of crow blackbirds, four of them
+with their parents. These are the least interesting feathered young
+people I know, but the parents are among the most devoted. They keep
+their little flock together, and work hard to fill their mouths. The low
+cry is husky, but insistent, and they flutter their wings with great
+energy, holding them out level with the back.
+
+After berries began to ripen, the woodpeckers came to call on us. In my
+walk in the woods in the morning, I frequently brought home a branch of
+elder with two or three clusters of berries, which I hung in the small
+dead tree. In that way I drew some of the woods birds about. The downy
+woodpecker was one of my first callers. He came with a sharp
+"chit-it-it," hung upon the clusters, occasionally head down, and picked
+and ate as long as he liked. The vigilant robin would sometimes fly at
+him, and he would leave; but in a moment back he came, and went on with
+his repast. When the care of an infant fell to him, he brought his
+charge to the source of supplies. A farm wagon happened to stand near
+the dead tree, and on this the young woodpecker alighted, and stood
+humped up and quiet while his parent went to the berries, picked several
+for himself, and then proceeded to feed him. This young person was very
+circumspect in his behavior. He did not flutter nor cry, in the usual
+bird-baby manner, but received his food with perfect composure. Berries,
+however, seemed to be new to him, and he did not appear to relish them,
+for after tasting two or three he flew away. In spite of this he came
+again the next day, and then he flew over to a cluster himself, and
+hung, back down, while he ate. He was charming with his sweet low
+chatter, and very lovely in plumage, white as snow, with dark markings
+clear and soft.
+
+One of the prettiest of our guests was a young chestnut-sided warbler.
+He looked much bigger than his papa, as warbler babies often do; but
+that is probably because the young bird is not accustomed to his suit of
+feathers, and does not know how to manage them. Some of them appear like
+a child in his grandfather's coat. The chestnut-sided warbler was
+himself an attractive little fellow, with a generous desire to help in
+the world's work pleasant to see in bird or man. After becoming greatly
+interested in one we had seen in the woods, who insisted on helping a
+widowed redstart feed her youngster, and had almost to fight the little
+dame to do so, we found another chestnut-sided warbler engaged in
+helping his fellows. Whether it were the same bird we could not tell; we
+certainly discovered him in the same corner of the woods. This little
+fellow was absorbed in the care of an infant more than twice as big as
+himself. "A cowbird baby!" will exclaim every one who knows the habit,
+shameful from our point of view, of the cowbird, to impose her infants
+on her neighbors to hatch and bring up. But this baby, unfortunately for
+the "wisdom of the wise," did not resemble the cowbird family.
+
+We saw the strange pair several times in the woods, and then one day, as
+I sat at my window trying to write, I heard a new cry, and saw a strange
+bird fly to the fence. He was very restless, ran along the top board,
+then flew to another fence, scrambled along a few feet, raising and
+lowering his tail, and all the time uttering a husky two-note baby-cry.
+While I was struggling to keep him in the field of my glass long enough
+to note his points, he went to the dead tree, when the philosophical
+phoebe sitting there took his case in hand, and made a dash for him.
+The stranger flew straight over the house, with his assailant in close
+chase. But in a moment I heard the baby-cry in a maple beside the
+cottage, while the phoebe calmly returned to his post and gave his
+mind again to his fly-catching. The young bird was not in range from the
+window, but when, a few seconds later, I heard the feeding-cry, I could
+no longer resist the desire to see him.
+
+I forgot my caution, and rushed out of the house, for I suspected that
+this uneasy visitor was the chestnut-sided's adopted charge. So I found
+it. There stood the infant, big and clumsy by comparison, calling,
+calling, forever calling; and stretching up on tiptoe, as it were, to
+reach him was the poor little warbler, trying to stop his mouth by
+stuffing him. The foster-parent lingered as if he were weary, and his
+plumage looked as if he had not dressed it for a week. But the insatiate
+beggar gave him no peace; with the swallowing of the last morsel began
+his cry for more. Again, standing within ten feet of him, I noticed the
+young bird's points, and again I was convinced that he was not a
+cowbird baby.
+
+The curious antics of a solemn kingbird, who did not suspect his hidden
+observer, were droll to look upon. He seemed to be alone on the fence,
+though some silent spectator may have been hidden behind the leaves. He
+mounted suddenly straight up in the air, with cries, twenty feet or
+more, then soared down with a beautiful display of his plumage. This he
+did many times in succession, with an indescribably conscious air, and
+at last he dropped behind some tall grass in the pasture. It looked
+exceedingly like "showing off," and who could imagine a kingbird in that
+role!
+
+But all flourishes were over when, somewhat later, he brought his lovely
+little family of three to the fence to be treated to berries. It was
+interesting to see a fly-catcher take his fruit "on the wing," as it
+were; that is, fly at it, seize it, and jerk it off without alighting.
+The phoebe picked berries in the same way, when he occasionally
+condescended to investigate the attraction that brought so many
+strangers into his quiet corner.
+
+The young kingbirds were sweet and chatty among themselves, and they
+decidedly approved the berries; but they never lost sight of each other,
+and kept close together, the little company of three, as I have seen
+other kingbirds do. One day they came in the rain, feathers all in
+locks, showing the dark color next the skin, and looking like beggars in
+"rags and tags," but they were as cheerful and as clannish as ever.
+
+To the locust group, too, came the red-headed woodpeckers; at first the
+parents, who talked to each other in whispered "kr-r-r-r's," and carried
+off many a sweet morsel to their family in the woods; later, one
+youngster, who took possession of the fence with the calm assurance of
+his race, and when I left the place had apparently established himself
+there for the season.
+
+Many others alighted on the fence; the junco, with his pretty brown
+bantling and his charming little trilling song; the crow baby, with its
+funny ways and queer cry of "ma-a-a;" the redstart, who
+
+  "Folds and unfolds his twinkling tail in sport;"
+
+the flicker mamma, with her "merry pitter-patter" and her baby as big as
+herself. Even the sapsucker from the lawn had somehow heard the news
+that a feast was spread near the locusts, and came over to see.
+
+Birds were not the only frequenters of the fence and the berry bushes.
+There were squirrels, gray and red, and chipmunks, who sat up pertly on
+a post, with two little paws laid upon their heart in theatrical
+attitude, as who should say, "Be still, my heart," while they looked
+the country over to see if any lurking member of the human family were
+about. The red squirrels were the most amusing, for they were very
+frolicsome, indulging in mad chases over and under the fence, through
+the trees, around the trunks, so rapidly that they resembled a red
+streak more than little beasts.
+
+One squirrel adopted the fence as his regular highway, and the high post
+of the farm gate as his watch-tower. He often sunned himself, lying on
+his face, with his legs and his tail spread out as flat as if he had
+been smashed. His presence scared the birds from the neighborhood, and I
+undertook to discourage him. I went out one day when I saw him near the
+fence. The squirrel made up his mind to pass over the gate and get into
+the locust, but I posted myself quite near, and he did not like to pass
+me. Giving up his plan is no part of a squirrel's intention, however,
+and every moment he would scramble up a few feet one side of me, with
+the design of running past me. As soon as his sharp black eyes showed
+above the top board I cried "Shoo!" He understood my motion, and
+doubtless would if I had said "Scat!" or "Get out!" (What should one say
+to a squirrel?)
+
+He dashed behind his barricade and disappeared. But he did not "stay
+put;" in two seconds he tried it again, and again his discouraging
+reception drove him back. He grew wary, however, and pretty soon I began
+to notice that every time he made his dash to the top he was a few
+inches nearer the gate, which stretched like a bridge from the fence to
+the locust-tree, and of course so much nearer me. At last, advancing
+thus inch by inch, he came up close to the gate, so near I could have
+put my hand on him,--that is, I could have put my hand on the place he
+occupied, for he did not stay to be caressed; he flew across the gate,
+sprang three or four feet into the tree, and was out of sight before I
+could lift a finger. This passage having been successfully made, he felt
+that he was safe, and could afford to be saucy. He began the usual
+scold. Then I tossed a little stick up toward him, as a reminder that
+human power is not limited by the length of an arm, and he subsided.
+
+Once when he came up to the fence top, before his grand dash, I laughed
+at him. Strange to say, this made him furious. He reviled me vehemently.
+No doubt, if I had understood his language, I should have been covered
+with confusion, for I confess that he could make a very good point
+against me. What business had I, an interloper in his dominion, to
+interfere with his rights, or to say whether he should dine off birds or
+berries?
+
+
+
+
+XXIII.
+
+THE COMICAL CROW BABY.
+
+
+Nothing in the world of feathers is so comical as a crow baby, with its
+awkward bows and ungainly hops, its tottering steps on the fence and its
+mincing, tight-boot sort of gait on the ground, its eager fluttering
+when it has hopes of food, and its loud and unintermitting demand for
+the same.
+
+My window overlooked a long stretch of cattle pastures and meadows still
+uncut, bounded on one side by woods, and in the middle of this valley
+unvisited by man, the crows of the neighborhood established a training
+school for their youngsters. A good glass let me in as unsuspected
+audience, and I had views of many interesting family scenes, supposed by
+the wary parents to be visible only to the cows stolidly feeding on the
+hillside. In this way I had all the fun and none of the trouble of the
+training business.
+
+It is astonishing how completely the manner of the adult crow is lacking
+in his young offspring, whose only external difference is the want of a
+tail. Must we then conclude that the dignity of a bird depends upon the
+length of his tail? We are accustomed to regard the crow as a grave and
+solemn personage with a serious role in life; and indeed life is such a
+constant warfare to him that I cannot see how he finds any enjoyment in
+it. Lowell says of him at one period:--
+
+     "The crow is very comical as a lover, and to hear him try to soften
+     his croak to the proper Saint Preux standard has something the
+     effect of a Mississippi boatman quoting Tennyson."
+
+If he is droll as a lover, he is much more entertaining as an infant.
+The first I knew of the new use of the pasture, I heard one morning a
+strange cry. It was loud and persistent, and sounded marvelously like
+"Ma-a! Ma-a!" Mingled with it I heard the vigorous cries of crows.
+
+I looked over into the pasture, and there I first saw the crow baby,
+nearly as big and black as his mamma, but with no tail to speak of. He
+sat--not stood--on the rail fence, bawling at the top of his hoarse
+baby-voice, "Ma! Ma! Ma!" and as he grew impatient he uttered it faster
+and faster and louder and louder, drawing in his breath between the
+cries, and making it more like "Wah! Wah!" Whenever mamma flew over he
+followed her movement with his eyes, turning his head, and showing an
+eager, almost painful interest, till some one took pity on him and fed
+him. As he saw food approaching his voice ran up several tones higher,
+in laughable imitation of a human baby cry. This note is of course the
+promise of a "caw," but the _a_ is flattened to the sound of _a_ in bar,
+which makes it a ludicrous caricature of our own first utterances.
+
+But sometimes mamma did not heed the cries, and sailed calmly by,
+alighting a few rails beyond her hungry infant, though he held out his
+fluttering wings in the bird-baby's begging way, exactly as does a young
+warbler who wouldn't be a mouthful for him. Then the little fellow would
+start up on unsteady legs, to walk the rail to reach her, balancing
+himself with outspread wings, and when he got beside her, put his beak
+to hers in a coaxing way that I don't see how any mother could resist.
+But this wise dame had evidently hardened her heart. She probably wanted
+him to learn to help himself, for she dropped to the ground, and went
+wading about in the wet grass and mud, and at length flew off without
+giving him a morsel. Then the disappointed youngster cuddled up to a
+brother crow baby, and both lifted up their voices and lamented the
+emptiness of the cold, cold world.
+
+Perhaps the most comical performance of this clumsy baby was his way of
+alighting on a fence when he had been flying. He seized the board with
+his claws, which clung for dear life, while his body went on as it was
+going, with the result almost of a somersault. He tried to learn,
+however. He made great efforts to master the vagaries of fences, the
+irregularities of the ground, the peculiarities of branches. He
+persistently walked the rail fence, though he had to spread both wings
+to keep his balance. Then he climbed to the top of the rail which stood
+up at the corners, and maintained his position with great effort, but
+never gave up the attempt.
+
+These interesting young folks dote on fences, after they get used to
+them, and not having learned to recognize them as devices of the enemy,
+capable of concealing a trap of some sort, they will come quite near a
+house when they see no one about. So I, behind my blind, had excellent
+chance to watch their ways. For I try to keep my window view good by
+contenting myself with what I can see from it, and never going out to
+give the birds a notion that they must look out for visitors.
+
+One day when the grass had been cut from the meadow before the house,
+and I had encamped under the shade of a big maple to see how the
+kingbirds were coming on in nesting, I noticed a young crow walking in
+the hot stubble, trying to find something to eat. He wandered about
+looking in vain to see something attractive. A robin who was also
+engaged in a food-hunt came and "took his measure," looking sharply at
+him as if to decide whether it was his duty to go for him. He plainly
+recognized the youthfulness of the intruder, for after a moment's study
+he passed on, attending to his own business, while the young crow stared
+at him in open-mouthed curiosity. At last the crow baby picked up an
+object--I could not tell what--which hung from his beak while he
+balanced the probabilities of its being good, aiding his deliberations
+by a gentle lift of the wings which looked like a shrug of the
+shoulders. He decided to risk it, and swallowed, but instantly choked it
+up, and for some time shook his head as if to get rid of even the memory
+of it. When, a few minutes after this disastrous experience, he heard
+another baby utter the cries that indicate being fed, it seemed to
+suggest to him an easier way of getting satisfaction out of life. He
+spread his wings, flew to a tree and began to call.
+
+To be a crow mamma is no sinecure. My heart went out to the poor souls
+who must be torn between anxiety for their dear "cantankerous"
+offspring, and fear of their deadly enemy, man. I watched with deep
+interest their method of training. One day I saw a baby get an object
+lesson in his proper attitude toward mankind, in this way. An old and a
+young crow were nearer the house than usual, and I walked down toward
+the fence to see why. The instant my head appeared, the elder flew with
+terrific outcry, for which of course I did not blame the poor creature,
+since mankind has proved itself her bitterest foe. The infant was nearly
+frightened to death, and followed as quickly as his awkward wings would
+carry him. I do not like to figure as "Rawhead and bloody-bones" in the
+nursery of even a crow baby, so I tried several times to redeem the bad
+name of my race. But to no avail; that subtle mamma had acquired her
+wisdom by experience, and she knew me as one of a species quite capable
+of murdering an innocent crow baby.
+
+I was interested to see the young family in the pasture taking lessons
+in following, or flying in a flock. There was great excitement and
+calling, and all flew, excepting one, who stood quietly on a big stone
+by himself. They simply circled around and alighted again, so it plainly
+was only an exercise. But the baby who did not learn the lesson and
+follow, was punished by one of the grown-ups, who flew directly against
+him on the return, and knocked him off his perch; the hint was taken,
+and the next time they flew no one stayed behind.
+
+Day by day the excitement in the crow world grew, and new families
+appeared in the pasture as fast as old ones got out. The rails of the
+fence were always occupied by young ones--though never more than five or
+six at a time--crying and shrieking and calling for "Ma-a!" and old ones
+all the time flying about half distracted, cawing and trying, I suppose,
+to enforce some order and discipline among the unruly rogues. Order,
+however, was quite a secondary consideration; the pressing duty of the
+hour was feeding. A crow parent on a foraging expedition is a most
+unwelcome visitor to the farmer with young chickens, or the bird-lover
+interested in the fate of nestlings. Yet when I saw the persecuted
+creature in the character of provider for four hungry and ever clamorous
+mouths, to whose wants she is as alive as we are to the wants of our
+babies, I took a new view of crow depredations, and could not see why
+her children should not have a chicken or a bird for breakfast, as well
+as ours. Poor hunted crow, against whom every man's hand is raised! She
+feels, with reason, that every human being is a deadly enemy thirsting
+for her life, that every cylinder pointed upward is loaded with death,
+that every string is a cruel snare to entangle and maim her,--yet whose
+offspring, dear as ours to us, clamor for food. How should she know that
+it is wrong to eat chickens; or that robin babies were made to live and
+grow up, and crow babies to die of starvation? The farmer ignores the
+millions of insects she destroys, and shoots her for the one chicken she
+takes, though she has been amply proved to be one of his most valuable
+servants. The kingbird and the oriole worry her life out of her because
+her babies like eggs--as who does not!
+
+In fact, there are, emphatically, two sides to the crow question, and I
+take the side of the crow.
+
+
+
+
+XXIV.
+
+A MIDSUMMER WOOING.
+
+
+The "sweet June days" had passed, and bird nesting was nearly at an end.
+Woods and fields were bubbling over with young bird notes, and the
+pretty cradles on tree and shrub were empty and deserted. A few motherly
+souls, it is true, were still occupied with their second broods, but, in
+general, feathered families were complete, and the parents were busy
+training their little folk for life.
+
+One bird, however, the charming, sweet-voiced goldfinch,
+
+  "All black and gold, a flame of fire,"
+
+still held aloof, as is his custom. He does not follow the fashion of
+his fellows; he resists the allurements of the nesting month; he waits.
+Whether it be for a late-coming insect necessary to the welfare of his
+nestlings, or for the thistle silk which alone makes fit cushion for his
+delicate spouse and her "wee babies," opinions differ.
+
+But though goldfinch nests were not set up, goldfinch wooing went on
+with enthusiasm; the summer air rang with sweetest song, and the
+graceful wave-like flight charmed us from morning till night. The
+courtship of the bird of July is a beautiful sight. He is at all times
+peculiarly joyous, but at this season his little body seems hardly able
+to contain him; so great is his rapture, indeed, that it infects and
+inspires the most matter-of-fact student. Our bird-loving poet Celia
+Thaxter must have seen him in loverly mood when she thus addressed
+him:--
+
+  "Where do you hide such a store of delight,
+    O delicate creature, tiny and slender,
+  Like a mellow morning sunbeam bright,
+    Overflowing with music tender?"
+
+At all hours of these enchanted days, whether fair or foul, the winsome
+little fellows were flying hither and thither, singing and calling in
+ecstatic tones, bounding through the air, and hardly pausing long enough
+to eat. July was fast slipping away when the excitement deepened and
+matters grew more serious. Then the observer, if he were wary, might
+catch occasional glimpses of puzzling scenes, mysteries of bird life
+that could not be unraveled because he did not see the whole.
+
+At one time the student came upon a scene like this: Two or three of the
+little dames in olive and gold hopping about on an evergreen tree,
+ostensibly eating, calling, in their enticing voices, "sw-e-e-t!" and
+to all appearance unconscious of the presence of two of their bright
+young wooers, sitting in perfect silence on an upper branch. Suddenly
+from this happy party one of the damsels flew, when instantly one of the
+black-winged suitors flashed out in pursuit. On she went, flying madly,
+encircled one tree, dashed to another, and around that, passed up and
+down, here and there, this way and that, but everywhere with her
+follower close after her, singing at the top of his voice, till they
+disappeared in the distance.
+
+Can the goldfinch wooing be a sort of Comanche affair? Is the little
+bride won by force? Or is she, perchance, like some of her sisters of
+larger growth, who require a "scene" of some sort to make them "name the
+day"?
+
+Again, attracted by loud eager singing, the student found a pair who
+were apparently fighting,--the peaceful goldfinch! They flew up close
+together, they almost clinched, then flew away to a group of trees,
+under, over, around, between, through, and beyond they went, never six
+inches apart, and he singing furiously all the time. At last, just as
+the looker-on expected to see them grapple, they calmly alighted on a
+tree eight or ten feet from each other. Nothing but a frolic, obviously!
+
+Another curious performance of this July wooing was several times
+noted. Hearing a strange and unfamiliar cry, in a tone of distress, I
+drew cautiously near, and found, on a low branch, one of the goldfinch
+maidens, uttering the plaintive notes, which, by the way, were
+afterwards very common about the nests. She held in her beak something
+which might be a tiny green worm, or a bit of nesting material, and she
+called constantly, looking about this way and that, as if seeking some
+one. After a while a male goldfinch appeared on the next tree, but he
+did not act in the least as if invited by her call. He seemed merely to
+be interested as any bird would be by her evident excitement. He watched
+her calmly, but did not offer to follow when at last she flew.
+
+Time, true to his reputation, was hurrying away even these sweet summer
+days, and still the love affairs of our little beauties seemed no nearer
+settlement than at first. In the opinion of impatient observers, their
+wooing was as long drawn out as that of Augustus and Araminta in an
+old-fashioned three-volume novel. Their manners, too, ludicrously
+suggested the behavior of the bigger pair; first he would follow her
+about, sing to her, parade himself, and show off; then she coquetted,
+and charmed him with her bewitching and altogether indescribable call,
+"sw-e-e-t." Then they were off in a whirl of excitement together,
+flitting hither and thither, singing and dancing through the air, life
+showing its rosiest hue.
+
+All things come to an end--in time. By the middle of the month the
+ecstasies of goldfinch youth were toned down, and the presence of dainty
+nests here and there proved that madam at least had settled to work,
+making preparation for her long, patient brooding.
+
+The tall grass in the meadow in front of the house was about this time
+laid low; nodding daisies,--white and yellow,--plumy meadow-grass and
+plain timothy, devil's paintbrush and soft purple grass flowers, alike
+lay in long rows dying on the ground. Delighted at last to possess the
+places so long tabooed to us by the heavy crop, my comrade and I went
+out the next morning on discoveries bent. The nook in which we rested
+after our walk--she on the fresh sweet hay in the broad sunshine, and I
+in the shade close by--offered a rare combination of seclusion with
+perfect security. It was within call from the veranda, yet completely
+hidden from it by a dense clump of evergreens.
+
+We had hardly settled ourselves when we noticed three lively goldfinches
+frolicking about the top of a tall maple-tree not far off. While we idly
+speculated about them, wondering if they had no mates, and if the
+goldfinches were not going to build this year, the eyes of my friend,
+who was lying on the ground, fell upon the nest. It was near the end of
+a lower branch of the maple, ten or twelve feet from the ground, and the
+little dame was at that moment working upon it. She was so deeply
+absorbed in her occupation that she did not even notice us, and we
+studied her movements with interest, till the haymakers came with wagon
+and oxen, and much talking and shouting, to gather up their fragrant
+loads, which on that side of the field stood in small stack's all ready.
+
+Once again, in spite of long experience, I was amazed to see how deaf
+and blind are people to what goes on about them. "We see only that which
+concerns us," says some one, and since the farmer, with whole mind bent
+upon making a firm and symmetrical load, did not concern himself with
+bird affairs, goldfinch work went on without hindrance. The half-loaded
+wagon paused under the chosen branch, where the man could have laid his
+hand upon the nest, but the small builder went in and out, calling and
+fluttering around as freely as if he were not there. As a matter of fact
+he was not, for though his body was near, he was down in the hay, and he
+never heard or saw the bird.
+
+We kept watch of the fateful branch, ready to protect it if necessary,
+till the train moved off, and then we went home congratulating ourselves
+on possessing the goldfinch's precious secret, planning to spend a part
+of every morning in studying her ways.
+
+"Man proposes," but many things "dispose." The next morning revealed
+another tragedy. The dainty nest, so laboriously built, was found a
+wreck, the whole of one side pulled out and hanging over the branch,
+while the soft cushion of silky white thistle-down, an inch thick, lay
+on the grass below. The culprit we could not discover, for he had left
+no trace. It might be a squirrel; it certainly looked like the work of
+his strong claws; but, on the other hand, it might be the sparrow-hawk
+who had made the meadow his daily hunting-ground since the mysterious
+disaster to the kingbird's nest had deprived us of the police services
+of that vigilant bird. Probably a squirrel was the culprit, for the hawk
+appeared only after the grass was cut, and grasshoppers and other
+insects were left without shelter, and he seemed to give his entire
+attention to the grass at the foot of the flagpole on which he always
+perched.
+
+Whoever was guilty of the cruel deed, it added one more to the list of
+ravaged nests, and of all that we watched that summer exactly half had
+been broken up or destroyed.
+
+I am happy to say that the little pair were not utterly discouraged,
+for a day or two later we found the provident mistress carefully drawing
+out of the ruin some of the material she had woven into it, and carrying
+it away, doubtless to add to a fresh nest. But she had this time chosen
+a more secluded site, that we were unable to discover. I hope she did
+not credit us with her disaster.
+
+
+
+
+XXV.
+
+A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE.
+
+
+It was just after the catastrophe of the last chapter when a pair of
+goldfinches, whose pretty pastoral I hoped to watch, had been robbed and
+driven from their home in a maple-tree that the plum-tree romance began.
+Grieving for their sorrow as well as for my loss, I turned my steps
+toward the farmhouse, intending to devote part of the day to the baby
+crows, who were enlivening the pasture with their droll cries and
+droller actions. But the crow family had the pasture to themselves that
+morning, for in passing through the orchard, looking, as always, for
+indications of feathered life, I suddenly saw a new nest in the top of a
+plum-tree, and my spirits rose instantly when I noticed that the busy
+little architect, at that moment working upon it, was a goldfinch.
+
+What an unfortunate place she had chosen, was my first thought. A young
+tree, a mere sapling, not more than eight feet high, close beside the
+regular farm road, where men, and worse, two nest-robbing boys, passed
+forty times a day. Would the trim little matron, now so happy in her
+plans, have any chance of bringing up a brood there in plain sight,
+where, if the roving eyes of those youngsters happened to fall upon her
+nest, peace would take its departure even if calamity did not overtake
+her?
+
+Looking all about, to make sure that no one was in sight, I seated
+myself to make the acquaintance of my new neighbor. My whole study of
+the life in and around the plum-tree, carried on for the next two weeks,
+was of a spasmodic order, for I had always to take care that no spies
+were about before I dared even look toward the orchard. One glimpse of
+me in the neighborhood would have disclosed their secret to the sharp
+boys who knew my ways.
+
+The little dame was bewitching in her manner, and her handsome young
+spouse the most devoted consort I ever saw in feathers, or out of them,
+I may say. Although she alone built the nest, he was her constant
+attendant, and they always made their appearance together. He dropped
+into a taller tree--an apple near by--while she, with her beak full of
+materials, alighted on the lowest branch of the plum, and hopped gayly
+from twig to twig, as though they were steps, up to the sky parlor where
+she had established her homestead. Then she went busily to work to
+adjust the new matter, while he waited patiently during the ten or
+fifteen minutes she thus occupied. Sometimes he seemed to wonder what
+she could be about all this time, for he came and alighted beside her,
+staying only an instant, and then flying with the evident expectation
+that she would follow. Usually, however, he remained quietly on guard
+till she left the nest with her joyful call, when he joined her, and
+away they went together, crying, "te-o-tum, te! te!" till out of sight
+and hearing. There was a joyousness of manner in this pair that gave a
+festive air to even so prosaic a performance as going for food. The
+source of supplies, as I soon discovered, was a bit of neglected ground
+between a buckwheat patch and a barn, where grass and weeds of several
+sorts flourished. Here each bird pulled down by its weight a stalk of
+meadow or other grass, and spent some time feasting upon its seeds.
+
+But madam was a timid little soul; she reminded me constantly of some
+bigger folk I have known. She wanted her gay cavalier always within
+call, and he responded to her demands nobly, becoming more domestic than
+one would imagine possible for such a restless, light-hearted sprite.
+After the young house-mistress settled herself to her sitting, she often
+lifted her head above the edge of her nest, and uttered a strangely
+thrilling and appealing cry, which I think is only heard in the
+nesting-time. He always replied instantly, in tenderest tones, and came
+at once, sometimes from the other side of the orchard, singing as he
+flew, and perched in the apple-tree. If she wanted his escort to lunch,
+she joined him there, and after exchanging a few low remarks, they
+departed together. Occasionally, however, she seemed to be merely
+nervous, perhaps about some other bird who she fancied might be
+troublesome, though, in general, neither of the pair paid the slightest
+attention to birds who came about, even upon their own little tree.
+
+Often when the goldfinch came in answer to this call of his love, he
+flew around, at some height above the tree, in a circle of thirty or
+forty feet diameter, apparently to search out any enemy who might be
+annoying her. If he saw a bird, he drove him off, though in a
+perfunctory manner, as if it were done merely in deference to his lady's
+wishes, and not from any suspicion or jealousy. On these occasions, too,
+he came quite near me, stood fearless and calm, and studied me most
+sharply, doubtless to see if my intentions were innocent. Of course I
+looked as amiable and harmless as possible, and in a moment he decided
+that I was not dangerous, made some quiet remark to his fussy little
+partner, and flew away.
+
+Sometimes this conduct did not reassure the uneasy bird, and she called
+again. Then he brought some tidbit in his beak, went to the edge of the
+nest, and fed her. Then she was pacified; but do not mistake her, it was
+not hunger that prompted her actions; when she was hungry, she openly
+left her nest and went for food. It was, as I am convinced, the longing
+desire to know that he was near her, that he was still anxious to serve
+her, that he had not forgotten her in her long absence from his side.
+This may sound a little fanciful to one who has not studied birds
+closely, but she was so "human" in all her actions that I feel justified
+in judging of her motives exactly as I should judge had she measured
+five feet instead of five inches, and worn silk instead of feathers.
+
+The goldfinch need not have worried about her mate, for he spent most of
+his time within a few feet of her, and more absolutely loyal one could
+not be. His most common perch was a neighboring tree, though in a heavy
+beating rain he frequently crouched on the lowest branch of the plum
+itself. Now and then he rested on a pile of boards beside the farm road
+already spoken of, and again he took his post on a very tall ash, with
+only a few limbs at the top, where his body looked like a dot against
+the blue, and he could oversee the whole country around. Wherever he
+might be, he sat all puffed out, silent and motionless, evidently just
+waiting. Sometimes he took occasion to plume himself very carefully,
+oftener he did nothing, but held himself in readiness to answer any call
+from the plum-tree, and to accompany the sitter out to dinner.
+
+This bird was an enchanting singer. During courtship, and while his mate
+was sitting, he often poured out a song that was nothing less than an
+ecstasy. It was delivered on the wing, and not in his usual wave-like
+manner of flight, but sailing slowly around and around, very much as a
+bobolink does, singing rapturously, without pause or break. The quality
+of the music, too, was strikingly like bobolink notes, and the whole
+performance was exquisite.
+
+The little sitter soon became accustomed to my presence. When out of her
+nest, she sometimes came to the tree over my head, and answered when I
+spoke to her. In this way we carried on quite a long conversation, I
+imitating, so far as I was able, her own charming "sweet," and she
+replying in varied utterances, which, alas! were Greek to me.
+
+I longed to watch the lovely and loving pair through their nesting; to
+see their rapture over their nestlings, their tender care and training,
+and the first flight of the goldfinch babies. But the inexorable
+task-master of us all, who proverbially "waits for no man," hurried off
+these last precious days of July with painful eagerness, and thrust
+before me the first of August, with the hot and dusty journey set down
+for that day, long before I was ready for it.
+
+So I did not see the end of their love and labor myself, but the bird's
+wisdom in the selection of a site for her nursery was proved to be
+greater than mine, who had ventured to criticise her, by the fact that
+the nest, as I have been assured, escaped the young eyes of the
+neighborhood, and turned out its full complement of birdlings to add to
+next summer's beauty and song.
+
+
+
+
+XXVI.
+
+SOLITARY THE THRUSH.
+
+
+        "Solitary the thrush,
+  The hermit, withdrawn to himself,
+  Sings by himself a song."
+
+Thus says the poet, with no less truth than beauty. No description could
+better express the spirit of the bird, the retiring habit and the love
+of quiet for which not alone the hermit, but the three famous singers of
+the thrush family are remarkable. We should indeed be shocked were it
+otherwise, for there is an indefinable quality in the tones of this
+trio, the hermit, wood, and tawny, that stirs the soul to its depths,
+and one can hardly conceive of them as mingling their notes with other
+singers, or becoming in any way familiar. In this peculiar power no
+bird-voice in our part of the world can compare with theirs. The brown
+thrush ranks high as a musician, the mockingbird leads the world, in the
+opinion of its lovers, and the winter wren thrills one to the heart. Yet
+no bird song so moves the spirit, no other--it seems to me--so
+intoxicates its hearer with rapture, as the solemn chant of "the hermit
+withdrawn to himself."
+
+"Whenever a man hears it," says our devoted lover of Nature, Thoreau,
+"he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it there is
+a new world, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him."
+
+One might quote pages of rhapsody from poets and prose writers, yet to
+him who has not drunk of the enchantment, they would be but words; they
+would touch no chord that had not already been thrilled by the marvelous
+strain itself.
+
+My first acquaintance in the beautiful family was the wood-thrush, and
+the study of his charms of voice and character filled me with love for
+the whole bird tribe. He frequented the places I also preferred, the
+quiet nooks and out of the way corners of a large city park. At that
+time I thought no bird note on earth could equal his; but a year or two
+later, on the shore of Lake George, I fell under the magical sway of
+another voice, whose few notes were exceedingly simple in arrangement,
+but full of the strangely thrilling power characteristic of the thrush
+family.
+
+Four years passed, at first in search of the owner of the "wandering
+voice" that had bewitched me, and when I had found it to be the tawny
+thrush or veery, in study of the attractive singer himself, which made
+me an enthusiastic lover of him also. But the "shy and hidden" bird,
+the hermit, enthroned by those who know him far above the others, I had
+rarely seen and never clearly heard. Far-off snatches I had gathered, a
+few of the louder notes had reached me from distant woods, or from far
+up the mountain side; but I had never been satisfied.
+
+There appeared almost a fatality about my hearing this bird. No matter
+how common his song in the neighborhood, no sooner did I go there than
+he retired to the secluded recesses of his choice. He always had "just
+been singing," but had mysteriously stopped. My search was much longer
+than, and quite as disappointing as Mr. Burroughs's search through
+English lanes for a singing nightingale.
+
+Last spring one of the strongest attractions that drew me to a lovely
+spot in Northern New York was the assurance that the hermit was a
+constant visitor. I went, and the same old story met me. Before this
+year the hermit had always been with them. The song of the veery was my
+morning and evening inspiration, but his shy brother had apparently
+taken his departure for parts unknown.
+
+"We will go to Sunset Hill," said my friend. "We always hear them there
+at sunset."
+
+That evening after an early tea, we started for the promised land. The
+single-file procession through the charming wood paths consisted of our
+host as protector on the return in the dark, the big dog--his mistress's
+body-guard--his mistress, an enthusiastic bird-lover, and myself.
+
+The road was all the way through the woods, then lovely with the glow of
+the western sun, which reached far under the branches, gilded the trunks
+of the trees, and made a fresh picture at every turn. At the further
+side of the woods was a grass-covered hill which we ascended, eager to
+treat our eyes to the sunset, and our ears to the hermit songs. The sun
+went down serenely, without a cloud to reflect his glory, but the whole
+pleasant country at our feet was illuminated by his parting rays.
+
+And hark! a hermit began "air-o-ee!" Instantly everything else was
+forgotten, although the bird was far away.
+
+"He will come nearer," whispered my comrade, and we waited in silence.
+Several singers were within hearing, but all at a tantalizing remoteness
+that allowed us to hear the louder notes, and constantly to realize what
+we were losing.
+
+We lingered, loath to abandon hope, till the deepening shadows reminded
+us of the woods to be passed through; but no bird came nearer than that
+maddening distance. In despair we turned our faces homeward at last;
+several times on the way we paused, lured by an ecstatic note, but
+every one too far off to be completely heard.
+
+In our quiet walk back through the dark woods I accepted my evident
+fate, that I was not to be blessed with hermit music this season; but I
+made a private resolve to find next year a "hermit neighborhood," where
+birds should be warranted to sing, if I had to take a tent and camp out
+in a swamp.
+
+June passed away in delightful bird-study, and July followed quickly.
+Nests and songs in plenty rewarded our search. Every day had been full.
+Nothing had been wanting to fill our cup of content, except the
+longed-for song of the hermit; and I had been so absorbed I had almost
+ceased to regret it.
+
+With the last days of July everything was changed about us. The world
+was full of bird babies. Infant voices rang out from every tangle;
+flutters of baby wings stirred every bush; the woods echoed to anxious
+"pips," and "smacks," and "quits," of uneasy parents working for dear
+life. We had been so occupied with our study of these charming
+youngsters, that we bethought ourselves, only as one after another
+strange warbler appeared upon the scene, that migrating time had
+arrived, the wonderful procession to the summer-land had begun.
+
+This, alas! I could not stay to see. And if one must go, it were better
+to take leave before getting entangled in the toils of the warblers, to
+be driven wild by the numberless shades of yellow and olive, to go
+frantic over stripes and spots, and bars, and to wear out patience and
+the Manual, trying to discover what particular combination of Latin
+syllables scientists have bestowed upon this or that flitting atom in
+feathers. Before the student is out of bed, a new warbler-note will
+distract her; in the twilight some tiny bird will fly over her head with
+an unfamiliar twitter; each and every one will rouse her to eager desire
+to see it, to name it.
+
+Why have we such a rage for labeling and cataloguing the beautiful
+things of Nature? Why can I not delight in a bird or flower, knowing it
+by what it is to me, without longing to know what it has been to some
+other person? What pleasure can it afford to one not making a scientific
+study of birds to see such names as "the blue and yellow-throated
+warbler," "the chestnut-headed golden warbler," "the yellow-bellied,
+red-poll warbler," attached to the smallest and daintiest beauties of
+the woods?
+
+Musing upon this and other mysteries, I followed my friend up the
+familiar paths one day, looking for some young birds whose strange cries
+we had noted. It was a gray morning, and all the tree trunks were grim
+and dark, with no variety in coloring. The sounds we were following led
+us through some unused roads entirely grown up with jewel-weed, part of
+it five feet high, and thickly hung with the yellow flower from which it
+takes its name.
+
+It had rained in the night, and every leaf was adorned with minute drops
+like gems. We parted the stems carefully and passed through, though it
+seemed to us like wading in deep water, and, in spite of our caution, we
+were well sprinkled from the dripping leaves. Just as we stepped out of
+our green sea, the low calls we were trying to locate ceased. We walked
+slowly on until we were attracted by a rustling in the dry leaves, and
+then we turned to see two young thrushes foraging about in silence by
+themselves. They were not very shy, but looked at us with innocent baby
+eyes as we drew near and examined them. We saw the color and the
+markings and the peculiar movement of the tail characteristic of the
+hermit. There could be no doubt that these were hermit babies. We were
+delighted to see them. I never feel that I know a bird family till I
+have seen the young. But my pleasure was sadly marred by the reflection
+that where there were babies must have been a nest and a singer, and we
+had not heard his voice.
+
+The last Sunday of my stay came, all too soon. It was a glorious day,
+and, as usual, the two bird-lovers turned their steps toward the woods.
+Everything seemed at rest and silent. We paused a while in a part of the
+forest in which we had seen some strange phases of bird life, and had
+christened the "Bewitched Corner." A gentle breeze set all the leaves to
+fluttering; far off a woodpecker drummed his salute to his fellows;
+beyond the trees we could hear the indigo bird singing; but nothing
+about us was stirring. The wood-pewee was unheard, and even the vireo
+seemed to have finished his endless song and gone his way.
+
+We passed on a few rods to a favorite resting place of our daily rounds,
+where my comrade always liked to stretch herself upon the big bole of a
+fallen tree in the broad sunshine, and I to seat myself at the foot of
+another tree in the shade. It was a spot
+
+              "where hours went their way
+  As softly as sweet dreams go down the night."
+
+As we approached this place a sound reached us that struck us dumb; it
+was a hermit thrush not far off. Silently we stole up the gentle hill
+and seated ourselves.
+
+"At last! at last!" I cried in my heart, as I leaned back against my
+tree to listen.
+
+Then the glorious anthem began again; it rose and swelled upon the air;
+it filled the woods,--
+
+  "And up by mystical chords of song
+     The soul was lifted from care and pain."
+
+Though not in sight, the bird was quite near, so that we heard every
+note, so enchanting! so inimitable! For ten or fifteen minutes he poured
+out the melody, while our hearts fairly stood still. Then he stopped,
+and we heard the thrush "chuck" and the hermit call, which is different
+from other thrushes, being something between a squawk and a mew. Whether
+this were his conversation with his mate we could only guess, for we
+dared not move, hardly indeed to breathe.
+
+After a pause the bird began again, and for one perfect hour we sat
+there motionless, entranced, and took our fill of his matchless
+rhapsody. I longed inexpressibly to see the enchanter, though I dared
+not stir for fear of startling him. Perhaps my urgent desire drew him;
+at any rate he came at last within sight, stood a few minutes on the low
+branch of a tree and looked at me, lifting and dropping his expressive
+tail as he did so. Two or three low, rich notes bubbled out, as if he
+had half a mind to sing to me; but he thought better of it and dived off
+the branch into the bushes. We rose to go.
+
+"This only was lacking," I said. "This crowns my summer. I ask no more,
+and tomorrow I go."
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+  American Goldfinch:
+    bewitching manners, 253.
+    devotion of the male, 255, 256.
+    difficulty of watching, 253.
+    nervous sitter, a, 256.
+    nest, a second, 252.
+    neat building, 248, 249, 251, 253.
+    nesting ways, 244, 254.
+    queer scenes, 245, 246, 247.
+    song, 257.
+    talk with me, a, 257.
+    tragedy again, 250.
+    wooing, 244, 247.
+
+  Black and White creeper, 110.
+
+  Black-throated Blue Warbler:
+    delight in nest, 166.
+    hard to study, 164.
+    nest and mate, 165.
+    song, 163.
+    studies me, 168.
+    vain search for, 169.
+    young, 170.
+
+  Bluejay, the young, 77.
+    appearance of, 89.
+    description of, 91.
+    food as bait, 93.
+    interest of neighbors, 95.
+    not afraid, 92.
+    old birds to the rescue, 94.
+    stray youngster, a, 93.
+
+  Bobolink, 139.
+    attack, 152.
+    cries, strange, 139, 140.
+    disturbed, 151.
+    manners, 139.
+    musical call, 153.
+    song, 141, 144.
+    wiles, 150.
+
+
+  Cedar Birds, 143.
+
+  Chestnut-sided Warbler, 184, 187.
+    adopted infant, 230.
+
+  Chipping Sparrow, 173.
+
+  Crow, the parents, 240, 242.
+    two sides to the question, 242.
+    the young, 236.
+    alighting, 238.
+    coaxing ways, 238.
+    cry, a strange, 237.
+    efforts to learn, 239.
+    experimenting in food, 240.
+    object lesson, an, 241.
+
+  Cuckoo, the Black Billed, 190.
+    curious performance, 194.
+    male, the, 192.
+    mother tactics, the, 199.
+    nest, 191.
+    nest deserted, 198.
+    relieving the sitter, 192.
+    sitting bird, the, 191.
+    struck dumb, 196.
+    ventriloquism, 192.
+    young, 194.
+
+  Curiosity of Birds, 4.
+
+
+  Golden-winged Woodpecker, or Flicker:
+    cry of young, 40, 44.
+    dress, 36.
+    feeding, 39, 40, 43.
+    flight of young, 46.
+    manners, 35, 38.
+    nest, 34.
+    nest deserted, 47.
+    preparing to leave, 42, 43, 45.
+    setting house in order, 101.
+    teaching the young, 134.
+    ventriloquism, 102.
+    young appear, 39.
+
+  Gray Squirrel:
+    cry of, 178.
+    poacher, 207.
+
+  Great-crested Fly-catcher, 227.
+
+
+  Hermit Thrush, 259.
+    search for, 262.
+    shyness of, 261.
+    song, 266.
+    voice, 259.
+    young, 265.
+
+  Humming Bird as poacher, 207.
+
+
+  Insects, destruction of, 18, 23.
+
+
+  Junco, nest, 132.
+    young, 133.
+
+
+  Kingbird:
+    bathing, 26.
+    character, 3, 12, 17.
+    curious antics, 232.
+    distinguishing marks, 14.
+    English sparrow annoyance, 12.
+    feeding, 21, 22, 25.
+    greeting to mate, 8.
+    nest of, 2.
+    nesting habits, 9, 20.
+    night perch, 14.
+    oriole encounter, 5.
+    preparing to sit, 7.
+    robin encounter, 6, 10.
+    sitting, 13.
+    song, 14.
+    treatment of young robin, 31.
+    young out, 17, 19.
+
+  Kingbird, the young:
+    appearance above the nest, 22.
+    attachment to each other, 24.
+    dress of, 25.
+    first flight, 28.
+    first night out of nest, 29.
+    last view, 32.
+    leaving the nest, 26.
+    migrating cry, 27, 29,
+    preparing for flight, 34.
+    reception of strangers, 30.
+    vireo impertinence, 31.
+    voice, 23.
+
+
+  Mephitis Family, 156.
+
+
+  Oven Bird, Golden Crowned Thrush:
+    accident to nest, 177.
+    good sense of, 178.
+    nest, 177.
+    song, 177.
+
+
+  Partridge, a sitting, 80.
+
+  Phoebe, 223.
+    manners, 224.
+    strange performance, 225.
+
+
+  Red-headed Woodpecker, 211, 223.
+    after berries, 215, 219.
+    comical attitudes, 216.
+    feeding on the ground, 212.
+    fly-catching, 217.
+    frolics of young, 219.
+    greeting to mate, 216.
+    insulted by robin, 214.
+    on the raspberries, 214.
+    poaching, 213.
+    robin surveillance, 216.
+    settling with the robin, 215.
+    young, 217.
+
+  Redstart
+    and chestnut-sided warbler, 184.
+    caution of, 54.
+    curiosity, 111.
+    description, 50.
+    hostility, 49.
+    in rain, 53.
+    nest, 49, 59.
+    nesting habits, 51, 58.
+    out of nest, 56.
+    out of shell, 53.
+    treatment of young, 55.
+    young identified, 189.
+
+  Red Squirrel, 234.
+
+  Robin, a saucy, 70.
+    morning song, 173.
+    on guard, 216.
+    special policeman, 226.
+    subdued, 37.
+    surveillance, 87.
+    takes a hint, 51.
+
+  Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 86.
+
+
+  Scarlet Tanager:
+    bathing, 161.
+    nest, 159.
+    shyness, 160.
+    young, 162.
+
+  Song Sparrow, 173.
+
+  Sparrow Hawk, 250.
+
+
+  Towhee Bunting, young, 105.
+
+
+  Veery, Wilson's Thrush:
+    bleating cry, 111.
+    calls and cries, 125.
+    cry of young, 107.
+    description of young, 113.
+    distress of parents, 120, 124, 126.
+    empty nest, 120.
+    friendliness, 126.
+    humorist, 127.
+    mother, the, 109.
+    nest destroyed, 117.
+    nest seeking, 115.
+    nests found, 116, 118, 119, 124.
+    solitude, love of, 125.
+    song, 99, 106, 260.
+
+
+  Warbler life, problems in, 184, 264.
+
+  Wood-pewee, 68.
+    nest, 131.
+    song, 70.
+
+  Wood-thrush, 260.
+
+
+  Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, or Sapsucker, 173, 201.
+    drumming habit, 207.
+    food habits, 203.
+    frolics, 205.
+    manners, 203, 204.
+    nest, 209.
+    traps, 204.
+    voice, 202.
+    young, 135, 209, 210.
+
+  Young Birds:
+    black-throated blue warbler, 170.
+    bluebird, 72.
+    brown thrush, 61.
+    chestnut-sided warbler, 229.
+    crow, 236.
+    crow blackbird, 228.
+    cuckoo, 194.
+    downy woodpecker, 229.
+    hermit thrush, 265.
+    in rain, 175.
+    kingbird, 22, 232.
+    learning to flock, 68.
+    other young birds, 74, 233, 263.
+    out, 23.
+    red-headed woodpecker, 217, 233.
+    scarlet tanager, 162.
+    swallow, 65.
+    towhee bunting, 105.
+    veery, 113.
+    Wilson's thrush, 113.
+    woodpecker, 175.
+    wood-pewee, 71.
+    yellow-bellied woodpecker, 135, 209.
+
+
+
+
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #27277 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27277)