BAD-WEATHER MANNERS. 13 



custom; even the English sparrow carried on 

 his vulgar squabbles on his own branch of the 

 oak all (lay ; but to none of them did the king- 

 bird 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 step- 

 ping out upon a neighboring twig to rest herseK. 

 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-stu- 

 dent, 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 re- 

 mained in a sheltered part of the tree, but he 

 did not come to the usual twigs which were so 



