130 A WIDOW AND TWINS. 
him back, however, and shortly after seven 
o’clock I found him comfortably disposed 
for the night. “He is now on his twenty- 
first day (at least) in the nest. To-morrow 
will'see him go.”’ So end my day’s notes. 
At 5.45 the next morning he was still 
there. At 6.20 I absented myself for a few 
minutes, and on returning was hailed by my 
neighbor with the news that the nest was 
empty. Number Two had flown between 
6.25 and 6.30, but, unhappily, neither of us 
was at hand to give himacheer. I trust 
that he and his mother were not hurt in their 
feelings by the oversight. The whole family 
(minus the father) was still in the apple- 
tree; the mother full, and more than full, of 
business, feeding one youngster after the 
other, as they sat here and there in the up- 
per branches. 
Twenty-four hours later, as I stood in the 
orchard, I heard a hum of wings, and found 
the mother over my head. Presently she 
flew into the top of the tree, and the next 
instant was sitting beside one of the young 
ones. His hungry mouth was already wide 
open, but before feeding him she started up 
from the twig, and circled about him so 
