316 On five little waxivings and hoiv they grew.


from the house and for days the little creatures were my almost

constant companions, flying about in the maples over my head and

coming down every little while to get their bread and milk, a saucer

of which I kept on the ground by me.


Wherever I was about the place they were liable to appear.

Each morning as I stepped on the porch their cry greeted me, and

instantly four little monoplanes would be coming full speed toward

me. I always threw up my arm for a perch, and they would suffer

me to carry them thus about the grounds and to the house.


Their familiar, enticing ways were completely captivating, for

if it was beautiful to have them so tame in captivity, it was perfectly

charming to have them show such trust and confidence when at

liberty, and I was their willing slave while the little drama lasted.


Two of the birds I was always able to identify—one, the

only one of the brood that had the sealing-wax tips on his wing

feathers, and another who had a white spot on his shoulder, where

he had lost a feather. This last was tamer than all the rest. After

his breakfast of bread and milk, he would perch on my finger by the

half hour. He seemed to like the warmth at his feet, and I would

carry him thus perched into the house and up-stairs, to show to my

wife, who perchance had not yet risen. Then he would sit in the

kitchen rocker for a time. When I Held him up in front of my

face, he would peer into my eyes, throw up his crest, and twist

his head from side to side, evidently studying me quite as much

as I was studying him.


Then he would pull at the hairs of my moustache, perhaps

thinking it might make good nest material.


For two weeks this pretty intercourse lasted. Gradually

their visits grew less frequent. Finally, one morning at breakfast,


I heard the well-known cry, and, hurrying out on to the verandah,


I found two of the birds taking their breakfast of bread and milk—

the red-tipped one and my tame one.


I noticed at once something unusual in their behaviour.

There was something strangely hurried and urgent in their manner,

as if important business was to be attended to.


Hurriedly they swallowed their bread and milk, just for a

moment my favourite perched on my finger, then with a whirr they



