24 THE WOOD-WREN 



warbler sang and called, but still no answering 

 cry was heard. 



About a week had passed when, one afternoon, 

 a flutter of grey-green wings was seen near the 

 rose tree by the stream, and the wood-wren flew 

 thither to find that another of his kind had come 

 to the island copse. During the rest of the day 

 he never for a moment lost sight of her. She 

 was coy, and made pretence of scolding him for 

 the ardent affection displayed as he hovered on 

 swift-vibrating wings before the branch on which 

 she rested. Sometimes, frightened by his bois- 

 terous attentions, she flew away, with a harsh 

 little note of defiance ; but he pursued her in 

 and out of the bushes and tree-trunks, entreating 

 her always, with quick, twittering voice, to live 

 with him in his mid-stream fastness, whither 

 no prowling cat or stoat ever came to disturb 

 a nesting bird. 



The jealous willow- wrens were fighting among 

 themselves continually in the trees, but no rival 

 came to disturb the wood-wren's peace of mind. 

 His courtship, compared with theirs, was almost 

 commonplace, and before April had gone he 

 and his mate, after much deliberation, chose a 

 suitable nesting-place, and in earnest began their 

 household duties. The first hours of each day 

 were occupied in breakfasting on ephemerals 

 that, sleepy with cold, hid beneath the foliage. 



