302 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



ing the portals and vicinity of his home, the mistress is 

 no less faithfully brooding the interior. She is not deco- 

 rated with colors quite so bright as those which make the 

 male a flash of brilliant cadmium; for the yellow of her 

 head is one degree less glowing, though her eyes are do 

 less flashing. When we tap the stump which shelters her 

 home, it is interesting to note her look of startled wonder 

 as she peeps out to learn the cause of her alarm. A 

 siugle rap on the stub containing the nest will generally 

 cause the female, if she be within, to dart from the en- 

 trance after the first startled look. She drops almost to 

 the ground, where she flutters along with outspread tail, 

 stopping now and then on a convenient weed-stalk or 

 fallen branch, softly twittering, with tail spread in fan-like 

 appearance, and with slightly outspread, quivering wings. 

 This is when she exhibits her maternal anxiety in the 

 most appealing manner; and surely we must be hard- 

 hearted if we can withstand the entreaty expressed in the 

 slightly lifted wings and the scarcely audible twitterings. 

 Scarcely has she alighted, however, before another form 

 darts to her side, and both hop among the foliage and 

 branches about us, both earnestly chirping now and 

 scolding at the intrusion we so rudely make into the 

 quiet home. If we have despoiled the home, the female 

 will flit to the site when we depart, and cling to the side 

 of the ruin, gazing into the cavity for a time without 

 audible expression of feeling, as though at a loss to know 

 what has happened to her home. Then she will creep 

 into the now enlarged cavity, and make a round of in- 

 spection. After emerging, she will fly to where the male 

 is still chirping, or perhaps now making the air to vibrate 

 with his loud ditties. Then another visit to the spot will 

 be made, followed by the same wondering examination of 

 the cavity. 



In my rambles once I found a cavity made by a chick- 

 adee in the preceding year, and later somewhat enlarged, 

 not more than four and a half feet from the ground, in a 

 low, gnarled willow stump. Peeping into it, I saw the 

 slender black bill of the mother warbler, and then the 

 bright eyes which apprised me that she was wide-awake 

 and alert. I struck the stub below the entrance several 



