198 HAPS IN THE FIELD 



on a twig as if glued to the perch, but is all 

 life and animation, arriving in a bustle, with 

 feathers awry, and immaculate plumage in 

 slight disorder ; when he forgets to be digni- 

 fied, taking no stiff attitude, but bending 

 over, jerking about, and staying but a second 

 in a place ; when he resents the appearance 

 of the bird-student, and even swoops down 

 towards her in threatening manner ; when 

 one would think he must long for a voice to 

 shriek out his anxiety and distress. That 

 time is during his parental cares, while he is 

 feeding and training his little family, espe- 

 cially after they have left the nest and begin 

 to show the reckless independence characteris- 

 tic of the young bird as well as human. 



Nothing can be more lovely than the young 

 cedar-bird in his soft, fluffy, gray-spotted coat 

 and yellow-tipped tail, looking straight into 

 one's eyes with innocent, babyish expression, 

 and confiding ways that win the heart, or sit- 

 ting beside his brothers of the nest, hour after 

 hour, with the composure of his race. 



One summer a young cedar-bird alighted 

 on the shoulder of a man passing down a 

 rather wide intervale, doubtless tired with 



