132 MY LADY IN GREEN. 



the remainder of the bunch still hung over the 

 nest, two or three inches above, my view was 

 perfect, for I could look under them. Strange 

 to say, however, in a day or two I noticed that 

 another leaf had begun to droop over the tiny 

 homestead. In the morning and again in the 

 afternoon, it held itself well up out of my way, 

 but when the sun was hot in the middle of the 

 day, it fell lower and lower, till it was almost 

 as good a screen as its elder brother had been. 

 Nor was that the end of its vagaries. When a 

 strong wind came up from the south, that leaf 

 drew closer, and actually hugged the nest, so 

 that I could not see it at all. I longed to 

 remove it, but I had not the heart to deprive 

 the nestlings of their shelter. Strangest of all 

 leaf eccentricities, however, was the conduct of 

 another one of the same clump, which during 

 a northwest gale came down at the back, and 

 somehow wedged itself between the nest and 

 branch, so that it formed a perfect shield on 

 that side, so snug indeed that the mother could 

 hardly get under it to feed her little ones. And 

 so it remained all day, during a wind that 

 threatened to blow the wdiole tree down. I am 

 aware that this will be hard to credit. But I 

 examined it carefully ; I know the mother did 

 not arrange it, and I do not exaggerate in the 

 slightest degree. 



