194 THE BIRD OF THE STREET. 



ish fellow like himself, — by violence and rough 

 demonstration. He struts about in the absurd 

 sparrow fashion of making love, and finding 

 that she is not sufficiently impressed he gives 

 her a savage peck, as if to say, " Look at me ! " 

 At the same moment a suitor on the other side, 

 equally anxious to attract her notice, delivers 

 a similar rude reminder of his presence. This 

 being their method of wooing, when several 

 birds set their hearts on the same individual 

 she has an exceedingly tempestuous time till 

 she has made her selection, and to a careless 

 observer it appears as if they had combined to 

 annihilate her, instead of to offer her the choice 

 of a mate. 



An amusing instance in which the birds were 

 worsted took place under my eye last summer. 

 Hearing the usual outcry one morning, I looked 

 out, and saw a great crowd of sparrows perched 

 on the branches of a tall maple-tree, shrieking 

 at the top of their voices, craning their necks, 

 and hopping ever nearer to one of the houses so 

 kindly provided for their use. It was not one 

 of the four-story hotel arrangements with which 

 we disfigure our trees, but a single cottage, 

 with room for but one couple, and it was quite 

 high up in the tree. The excitement centred 

 around this house, and for a long time I could 

 not see what was the disturbing cause. Close 



