WABBLES 



stuffed it with crumbs, then into the garden 

 and stuffed it with insects. He kept up a 

 constant chirping meanwhile, and I thought 

 he made much of the fuss and bustle to keep 

 the baby from being homesick. That night 

 he flew away with his charge, and the next 

 day did not appear. Undoubtedly Mrs. Wab- 

 bles had given him a piece of her mind for 

 taking her baby to the woods. 



Three days later, however, Wabbles re- 

 turned, and brought with him two of the 

 babies. This day, for fuss and bustle, was 

 like the first, but that night, instead of taking 

 the birds out to the fields, he put them to 

 bed in a hemlock-tree near my hammock, after 

 which he flew away. The next day he brought 

 in the other baby, leaving Mrs. Wabbles child- 

 less and alone. That night Wabbles put the 

 three little ones. to bed in the same hemlock- 

 tree, and then flew back to his deserted mate. 



Before dark I looked for the young birds, 



and found them on a twig about a man's 



height from the ground, sitting side by side 



and cunningly concealed by hemlock spray. 



57 



