114 PHILLIDA AND CORIDON. 



be any nests this year, nor any young birds. 

 But by and by be discovers that somehow, he 

 cannot surmise how, — it must have been when 

 his eyes were turned the other way, — the scene 

 is entirely changed, the maidens are all wedded, 

 and even now the nests are being got ready. 



I watched a trio of cat-birds in a clump of 

 alder bushes b}^ the roadside ; two males, almost 

 as a matter of course, " paying attentions " to 

 one female. Both suitors were evidently in 

 earnest ; each hoped to carry off the prize, and 

 perhaps felt that he should be miserable for- 

 ever if he were disappointed ; and yet, on their 

 part, everything was being done decently and 

 in order. So far as I saw, there w^as no dispo- 

 sition to quarrel. Only let the dear creature 

 choose one of them, and the other would take 

 his broken heart away. So, always at a modest 

 remove, they followed her about from bush to 

 bush, entreating her in most loving and persua- 

 sive tones to listen to their suit. But she, all 

 this time, answered every approach with a 

 snarl ; she would never have anything to do 

 with either of them ; she disliked them both, 

 and only wished they would leave her to her- 

 self. This lasted as long as I stayed to watch. 

 Still I had little doubt she fully intended to 

 accept one of them, and had even made up her 

 mind already which it should be. She knew 



