94 A BIRD'S-NEST HUNTER. 



within a rod or two of passing horse-cars, 

 the father and mother went in and out 

 without the least apparent concern as to 

 who might be watching them ; but when 

 they came to be feeding their hungry off- 

 spring, it was almost laughable to witness 

 the little craftinesses to which they resorted. 

 They would perch on one of the outer 

 branches, call chickadee, dee, fly a little 

 nearer, then likely enough go further off, 

 till finally, after a variety of such " false 

 motions," into the hole they would duck, as 

 if nobody for the world must be allowed to 

 know where they had gone. It was really 

 wonderful how expert they grew at enter- 

 ing quickly. I pondered a good deal over 

 their continual calling on such occasions. 

 It seemed foolish and inconsistent ; half the 

 time I should have failed to notice their ap- 

 proach, had they only kept still. Toward 

 the end, however, when the chicks inside 

 the trunk could be heard articulating chick- 

 adee, dee with perfect distinctness, it oc- 

 curred to me that possibly all this persistent 

 repetition of the phrase by the old birds 

 had been only or mainly in the way of tui- 

 tion. At all events, the youngsters had 



