254 A PLUM'TREE ROMANCE. 



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, cry- 

 ing, "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 pro- 

 saic 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 re- 

 minded me constantly of some bigger folk I 

 have known. She wanted her gay cavalier al- 

 ways within call, and he responded to her de- 

 mands 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 



