136 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



tall elms at the side of the orchard. A solitary cuckoo 

 alighted in the tree nearest the house; he uttered two 

 or three soft, mellow notes, and flew to the woods. A 

 pair nested in the orchard last year. 



In a partially dead tree a pair of wakeups, or yellow- 

 hammers, Avere nesting. They have excavated a hole in a 

 large limb, or rather one part of the tree, as the top of 

 one of the two main branches had broken off, leaving a 

 stub three or four feet in length. The nest was only a 

 little higher than a man's head, and the old gentleman 

 had placed a Avooden chair under the tree in order to 

 get a view of the nest. I approached the place noise- 

 lessly, and clapping my hand over the opening of the 

 cavity made the sitting bird a prisoner. I gently lifted 

 the beautiful creature to the light ; she made no resist- 

 ance, but the fluttering of her heart spoke her conster- 

 nation. To have long resisted the pleading of her dark 

 eyes would have been an act of cruelty. If a " bird in 

 the hand is Avorth tAVo in the bush " it must be a liA^e 

 one, CA^en as an object of scientiflc stud}^ I detained 

 her only long enough to admire the beautiful umber and 

 bright yelloAV of her rich plumage, more beautifully 

 penciled than could have been done Avith brush and pen- 

 cil by the finest artist. As I opened my hand she flew 

 off, uttering, a note of gladness, and rejoined her mate 

 that Avas anxiously Avatching her from his perch on the 

 trunk of an adjoining tree. They soon flew off to 

 another part of the lot to talk over the affair and to de- 

 termine Avhether it would be safe to ever venture back 

 to the nest again, but they must have become reassured, 



