200 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



evidently had reasons of his own for preferring this Red 

 June. I was never sure what his reasons were, but have 

 always been suspicious that the fact that this tree stood on 

 the edge of the apiary, where there were fifty or a hundred 

 swarms of bees, had something to do with it. 



If I remember correctly it was about the first of May, 

 1883, that I first met Jerry. I was in the back yard watch- 

 ing the red ants clear a path from their home to a new 

 pasture when I noticed Jerry making love to a shy young 

 bird about his own size and color. It was plain that he 

 was making love to her, for every time she moved he 

 would fly around and around her, fluttering his wings in 

 the most excited manner possible, twittering and chatter- 

 ing all the time. She seemed to pay little heed to him, 

 as is the way of maidens in general, and when he became 

 too persistent in his attentions she flew to another tree. 

 No matter, she hardly had time to alight before there was 

 Jerry close beside her. Sometimes she would fly up into 

 the air in a spiral a hundred or two feet high. Neverthe- 

 less there was her insistent lover flying around her and pro- 

 testing in the loudest tones that he would be the most 

 wonderful husband on earth if only she would consent. I 

 watched them till mother called me to gather the eggs and 

 get in the evening supply of wood. When that work was 

 done, supper had to be eaten and the cows milked, and 

 by that time all honest birds were sleeping. 



The next morning, however, there was Jerry making love 

 as insistently as the night before. It was plain to a mere 

 outsider that he had already won his suit, but that his 

 lady fair was not prepared to admit the fact ; he, however, 

 was pressing his suit more ardently than ever. For all 

 their love making, both had plenty of time to catch a fly 



