256 THE BLUEBIRD. 



marital ranks, which they are called on to 



fin. 



In the mean time the wrens were beside 

 themselves with delight ; they fairly screamed 

 with joy. If the male was before " ruffled 

 with whirlwind of his ecstasies," he was now 

 in danger of being rent asunder. He in- 

 flated his throat and carolled as wren never 

 carolled before. And the female, too, how 

 she cackled and darted about! How busy 

 they both were ! Rushing into the nest, they 

 hustled those eggs out in less than a minute, 

 wren time. They carried in new material, 

 and by the third day were fairly installed 

 again in their old quarters ; but on the third 

 day, so rapidly are these little dramas played, 

 the female bluebird reappeared with another 

 mate. Ah ! how the wren stock went down 

 then ! What dismay and despair filled again 

 those little breasts ! It was pitiful. They 

 did not scold as before, but after a day or 

 two, withdrew from the garden, dumb with 

 grief, and gave up the struggle. 



The bluebird, finding her eggs gone and 

 her nest changed, seemed suddenly seized 

 with alarm and shunned the box ; or else, 

 finding she had less need for another husband 

 than she thought, repented her rashness and 



