256 A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE. 



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 hun- 

 ger 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 "hu- 

 man " 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. 



