A WOODLAND INTIMATE. 31 



reasoning. At all events, she sat quiet and 

 unconcerned ; apparently more unconcerned 

 than her visitor, for, to tell the truth, I was 

 so anxious for the success of this crowning 

 experiment that I actually found myself 

 trembling. However, I opened my store of 

 dainties, wet the tip of my little finger, took 

 up an insect, and held it to her mandibles. 

 For a moment she seemed not to know 

 what it was, but soon she picked it off and 

 swallowed it. The second one she seized 

 promptly, and the third she reached out to 

 anticipate, exactly as a tame canary might 

 have done. Before I could pass her the 

 fourth she stepped out of the nest, and 

 took a position upon the branch beside it ; 

 but she accepted the morsel, none the less. 

 And an extremely pretty sight it was, a 

 wild wood bird perched upon a twig and 

 feeding from a man's finger ! 



She would not stay for more, but flew to 

 another bough ; whereupon I resumed my 

 ramble, and, as usual, she covered the eggs 

 again before I could get out of sight. When 

 I returned, in half an hour or thereabouts, I 

 proffered her a mosquito, which I had saved 

 for that purpose. She took it, but presently 



