A WIDOW AND TWINS. 129 



cessant labors of this kind and her over- 

 whelming anxiety whenever any strange bird 

 came near, I began to be seriously alarmed 

 for her. As a member of a strictly Ameri- 

 can family, she was in a fair way, I thought, 

 to be overtaken by the "most American of 

 diseases," nervous prostration. It tired 

 me to watch her. 



With us, and perhaps with her likewise, 

 it was a question whether Number Two 

 would remain in the nest for the day. He 

 grew more and more restless ; as my com- 

 panion a learned man expressed it, he 

 began to "ramp round." Once he actually 

 mounted the rim of the nest, a thing which 

 his more precocious brother had never been 

 seen to do, and stretched forward to pick at 

 a neighboring stem. Late that afternoon 

 the mother fed him five times within an hour, 

 instead of once an hour, or thereabouts, as 

 had been her habit three weeks before. She 

 meant to have him in good condition for the 

 coming event ; and he, on his part, was ac- 

 tive to the same end, standing upon the 

 wall of the nest again and again, and exer- 

 cising his wings till they made a cloud about 

 him. A dread of launching away still kept 



