114 A WIDOW AND TWINS. 



naked, except for a line of grayish down 

 along the middle of the back. 



Meanwhile, I had been returning with 

 interest the visits of the bird to our honey- 

 suckle, and by this time had fairly worn a 

 path to a certain point in the wall, where, 

 comfortably seated in the shade of the hum- 

 mer's own tree, and armed with opera-glass 

 and notebook, I spent some hours daily in 

 playing the spy upon her motherly doings. 



For a widow with a house and family 

 upon her hands, she took life easily ; at fre- 

 quent intervals she absented herself alto- 

 gether, and even when at home she spent 

 no small share of the time in flitting about 

 among the branches of the tree. On such 

 occasions, I often saw her hover against the 

 bole or a patch of leaves, or before a piece 

 of caterpillar or spider web, making quick 

 thrusts with her bill, evidently after bits of 

 something to eat. On quitting the nest, she 

 commonly perched upon one or another of a 

 certain set of dead twigs in different parts 

 of the tree, and at once shook out her feath- 

 ers and spread her tail, displaying its hand- 

 some white markings, indicative of her sex. 

 This was the beginning of a leisurely toilet 



