114 PHILLIDA eo CORIDON. 
be any nests this year, nor any young birds. 
But by and by he discovers that somehow, he 
cannot surmise how, —it must have been when 
his eyes were turned the other way, — the scene 
is entirely changed, the maidens are all wedded, 
and even now the nests are being got ready. 
I watched a trio of cat-birds in a clump of 
alder bushes by the roadside ; two males, almost 
as a matter of course, ‘“* paying attentions” to 
one female. Both suitors were evidently in 
earnest ; each hoped to carry off the prize, and 
perhaps felt that he should be miserable for- 
ever if he were disappointed ; and yet, on their 
part, everything was being done decently and 
in order. So far as I saw, there was no dispo- 
sition to quarrel. Only let the dear creature 
choose one of them, and the other would take 
his broken heart away. So, always at a modest 
remove, they followed her about from bush to 
bush, entreating her in most loving and persua- 
sive tones to listen to their suit. But she, all 
this time, answered every approach with a 
snarl; she would never have anything to do 
with either of them; she disliked them both, 
and only wished they would leave her to her- 
self. This lasted as long as I stayed to watch. 
Still I had little doubt she fully intended to 
accept one of them, and had even made up her 
mind already which it should be. She knew 
