THE LITTLE LOVER. 27 



The yellowbird's nest came to an untimely end, 

 too, although its start was such a bright one. It 

 was a disappointment, for the goldfinches are such 

 trustful birds and so affectionate and tender in 

 their family relations that they always win one's 

 warm interest. At first, when this mother bird 

 went to the nest, her mate stationed himself on 

 the nest tree, leaning over and looking down anx- 

 iously at Billy and me ; but before their home 

 was broken up the watchful guardian fed his 

 pretty mate at her brooding when we were below. 

 ' We had a great many visitors while waiting 

 for the wrens : neighbors came to sit in our 

 green shade, young housekeepers came looking for 

 rooms to rent, and old birds who were leading 

 around their noisy families came to dine with us. 

 Once a pair of flickers started to light in the tree, 

 but they gave a glance over the shoulder at me 

 and fled. Later I found their secret — down in- 

 side an old charred stump up the canyon. Occa- 

 sionally I got sight of gay liveries in the green 

 sycamore tops. A Louisiana tanager in his coat 

 of many colors stopped one day, and another time, 

 when looking up for dull green vireos, my eye 

 was startled by a flaming golden oriole. The 

 color was a keen pleasure. Lazuli buntings, rel- 

 atives of our eastern indigo-bird, sang so much 

 within hearing that I felt sure they were nesting 

 in the weeds outside the line of sycamores — I 

 did find a pair building in the malvas beyond ; a 



