150 INDIGO BUNTING 



When he stops in the middle of his song* to 

 attend to domestic duties, you may be able to 

 surprise him in his castle in some bushy fence 

 corner, where his brown mate will meet you with 

 an inhospitable, anxious air, crying cheej)^ and 

 twitching her tail as nervously as if an innocent 

 ornithologist could be a murderer. Have a care, 

 though, if you would look at her pretty eggs, for 

 a faint pathway through the bushes is enough 

 to betray the poor bird's secret to her enemies, 

 and the nest is so low and so easily upset that, as 

 I know to my sorrow, with the best intentions 

 one may do great harm while examining it. A 

 sight of the eggs will repay the greatest care, 

 however, for they are exquisitely delicate, shading 

 from pure white to faint green or blue. 



Though birds of such beautiful eggs, color, and 

 song, as all men are mortal, the Indigos must 

 needs attend the homely affairs of the inner man ; 

 but after descending to grasshoppers, caterpillars, 

 and cankerworms, they again mount to the tree- 

 tops and sing to the passing clouds their song of 

 summer. 



