THE LITTLE LOVER. 33 



although she first lit above him and came down 

 toward him with bill wide open and wings flutter- 

 ing in the pretty, helpless, coquettish way female 

 birds often tease to be fed ; suddenly, as if re- 

 membering, she flew off, and he went in to the 

 nest himself ! It was a conquest ; the little lover 

 was not altogether lacking in the paternal in- 

 stinct after all ! I looked at him with new 

 respect. 



On June 12 I wrote : " The wrens seem to have 

 settled down to business." It was delighful to 

 find the small father actually taking turns feed- 

 ing the young. I saw him feed his mate only 

 once or twice, and noticed much less of the quiver- 

 ing wings, though after leaving the nest he would 

 sometimes light on a branch and move them 

 tremulously at his sides for a moment. June 15 I 

 wrote : " The birds are feeding rapidly to-day. I 

 hear very little song from the male ; probably he 

 has all he can attend to. I 'd like to know how 

 many young ones there are in that hole." At 

 all events, the voices of the young were getting 

 stronger and more insistent, and it is no bagatelle 

 to keep half a dozen gaping mouths full of spiders, 

 as any mother bird can tell. This particular 

 mother wren, however, seemed to enjoy her cares. 

 She often called to the young from a branch in 

 front of the nest before going in, and stopped to 

 call back to them with a motherly-sounding krup- 

 up-up as she stood in the entrance on leaving. 



