HOSTILE DEMONSTRATIONS. 49 



a flash. It was too late to deceive me, however, 

 and I marked that tree as I passed, intent at the 

 moment upon cat-birds. 



On returning, I stopped on the bank to look 

 the tree over at my leisure, and there I soon 

 saw, two feet from the top of the tallest upright 

 branch and tightly clinging to it, a small cradle, 

 gently rocking in the warm breeze. No one was 

 at home, and I sat down to wait. This move- 

 ment did not meet the approval of a certain 

 small tenant of a neighboring tree, for I was 

 saluted by a sharp, low, incessant cry; now it 

 came from the right side, now from the left. I 

 turned quickly, caught a glimpse of yellow, the 

 flit of a wing, and then nothing. In a mo- 

 ment the sound began again, and thus it tanta- 

 lized me till my neck became tired, and I laid 

 my head back among the ferns, to wait till the 

 small fire-brand calmed down a little. To my 

 surprise and delight, the bird seemed to regard 

 this as a surrender, for down a broad branch 

 that sloped toward me came a most animated 

 bundle of feathers, wings and tail wide spread, 

 making hostile demonstrations, and scolding as 

 fiercely as such an atom could. It had all the 

 airs of ownership, and its colors were olive and 

 yellow ; had, then, the roguish redstart deceived 

 me, after all ? Thus pondering, I suddenly re- 

 membered that I had never seen his spouse, and 



