FLOATED OFF THE NEST. 113 



steady sitter. From two to four minutes, at in- 

 tervals of about the same length, was as long as 

 she could possibly remain in one place ; and 

 even then she entertained herself by rearranging 

 the materials composing her nest, till I began to 

 fear she would have it pulled to pieces before 

 the birdlings appeared. Beautiful beyond words 

 was her manner of entering and leaving her 

 snug home. On departing, she simply spread 

 her wings and floated off, as if lifted by the ris- 

 ing tide of an invisible element ; and on return- 

 ing, she sank from a height of ten or twelve 

 inches, as if by the subsidence of the same tide. 

 This corner of my small world, however en- 

 chanting with its rocky ledge, its cow-path, and 

 its nest, did not absorb me entirely. Life about 

 the trumpet-vine was far more stirring and 

 eventful. It was there that madam spent half 

 her time, for at that point, as well as at the nest, 

 were duties to be performed, her larder to be 

 defended, intruders to be banished, and crops to 

 be gathered ; there, too, in the intervals, her 

 toilet to be made. That a creature so tiny 

 should make a toilet at all was wonderful to 

 think of, and to see her do it was charming. 

 Each minute feather on gossamer wing or wide- 

 spread tail was passed carefully through her 

 beak ; from all soft plumage, the satin white of 

 the breast and the burnished green of the back, 



