102 THAT WITCHING SONG. 



Her first appearance to me was on the trunk, 

 the opposite side from her nest, whence she slid, 

 or so it looked, in a series of jerks to her door, 

 paused a few minutes on the step to look sharply 

 at me, and then disappeared, head first, within. 

 Quick as a jack-in-the-box, her head popped out 

 again to see if the spy had moved while she had 

 been out of sight, and finding all serene, she 

 threw herself with true feminine energy into her 

 work. The beak-loads she brought to the door 

 and fluno^ out seemed so insufficient that I 

 longed to lend her a broom; but I found she 

 had a better helper than that, a partner. 



When she tired, or thought she had earned a 

 rest, she came out, and flying to the limb above 

 the nest, began softly calling. Never was the 

 ventriloquial quality more plainly exhibited. I 

 heard that low "ka! ka! ka! ka! ka!" long 

 repeated, and I looked with interest in every 

 direction to see the bird appear. For a long 

 time I did not suspect the sly dame so quietly 

 resting on the tranch, and when I did it was 

 only by the closest inspection that I discovered 

 the slight jerk of the tail, the almost impercep- 

 tible movement of the beak, that betrayed her. 



Another as well as I heard that call, and he 

 responded. He was exactly like her, with the 

 addition of a pair of black " mustachios, " and it 

 may be she told him that the strange object un- 



