WHAT DID IT ALL MEAN? 169 



ward, pausing now and then, as if he absolutely 

 could not return to our level. 



Occasionally ray presence caused a domestic 

 scene not easy to interpret. Madam, no doubt 

 fully aware of the prying ways of the human 

 family, sometimes hesitated to return to her little 

 ones in the bushes. She flew around uneasily, 

 alighting here and there, anxious and worried, 

 but plainly afraid of exposing her precious 

 secret. Then her " lord and master " took her 

 in hand, flying at her, and following wherever 

 she fled before him, till he almost overtook her, 

 when she dropped into the marsh, and with a 

 low, satisfied chuckle he took a wide circle 

 around and returned to his tree. Scolding all 

 the time, she remained some minutes in the deep 

 grass, then flew up high, and floated down to the 

 alder clump where the nest was placed. Upon 

 this, her observant lord, whose sharp eyes no- 

 thing escaped, instantly flew down again, dashed 

 impetuously through the alders, and without 

 pausing returned to his post. Now how should 

 one interpret that little family interlude ? 



Later, when the young were out of the nest 

 and quite expert on wing, the redwing's relations 

 with them puzzled me also. I often saw the 

 two who appeared to compose the family flying 

 about with their mother, and I knew they were 

 his because he frequently joined the party. But 



