A LIVELY FROLIC. 45 



gaged in the top of the tall pine, where, by the 

 way, he went now and then to see how she was 

 getting on. Sometimes his spouse received him 

 amiably, but occasionally, I regret to say, I 

 heard a " huff" from the nest that said plainly, 

 " Don't you touch those eggs ! " And what 

 was amusing, he acknowledged her right to 

 dictate in the matter, and meekly took his de- 

 parture. Whenever she came down for a lunch, 

 he saw her instantly, and was ready for a frolic. 

 He dropped to the grass near her, and they 

 usually indulged in a lively romp, chasing each 

 other over and through the trees, across the 

 yard, around the garden, and back to the lawn, 

 where she went on with her eating, and he re- 

 sumed his singing. 



While I was watching the pine-tree house- 

 hold, the other nest, in the top of a low, flat- 

 topped cedar, perhaps twenty-five feet high, and 

 profusely fringed with Spanish moss, became of 

 even more interest. I could not see into the nest, 

 for there was no building high enough to over- 

 look it, but I could see the bird when he stood 

 upon the edge. Sitting, in a warm climate, is 

 not particularly close work. Although the 

 weather was cool, yet when the sun was out the 

 sitter left her nest from six to eight minutes at 

 a time, and as often as once in twenty minutes. 

 Of course in rain she had not so much liberty, 



