DRESSING IN A HURRY. 19 



through his beak, then flew to another place and 

 hurriedly dressed a few more ; and so he kept 

 on, evidently excited and nervous at being tem- 

 porarily disabled by wet feathers, though I do 

 not think he knew he had human observers, for 

 we were at some distance and perfectly motion- 

 less. He was a beauty, even for his lovely fam- 

 ily, and the rose color of his wing-linings was 

 the most gorgeous I ever saw. 



Moreover, I knew this bird, later, to be as 

 useful as he was beautiful. He it was who took 

 upon himself the care of the potato-patch in the 

 garden below, spending hours every day in 

 clearing off the destructive potato-beetle, sing- 

 ing as he went to and from his labors, and, 

 when the toils of the day were over, treating us 

 to a delicious evening song from the top of a 

 tree close by. 



In that way the grosbeak's time was spent till 

 babies appeared in the hidden nest, when every- 

 thing was changed, and he set to work like any 

 hod-carrier ; appearing silently, near the house, 

 on the lowest board of the fence, looking ear- 

 nestly for some special luxury for baby beaks. 

 No more singing on the tree-tops, no more hunt- 

 ing of the beetle in stripes ; food more delicate 

 was needed now, and he found it among the 

 brakes that grew in clumps all about under my 

 window. It was curious to see him searching, 



