MANNERS IN THE WOODS. 131 



our manners were not above criticism. We in- 

 troduced ourselves to Madam Wood-Pewee not 

 by ringing and sending up cards, but by pausing 

 before her door, seating ourselves on our stools, 

 and leveling our glasses at her house. We felt, 

 indeed, that we had almost a proprietary inter- 

 est in that little lichen - covered nest resting 

 snugly in a fork of a dead branch, for we had 

 assisted in building it, at least by our daily 

 presence, during the week or two that she spent 

 in bringing, in the most desultory way, snips of 

 material, fastening them in place, and moulding 

 the whole by getting in the nest and pressing 

 her breast against it, while turning slowly round 

 and round. Now that she had really settled her- 

 self to sit, we never neglected to leave a card 

 upon her, so to speak, every morning. 



As we approached we were pleased to see her 

 trim lord and master bearing in his mouth what 

 was no doubt intended for a delicate offering to 

 cheer her weary hours, for a gauzy yellow wing 

 stuck out on each side of his beak, suggesting 

 something uncommonly nice within. He stood 

 a moment till we should pass, looking the picture 

 of unconsciousness, and defying us to assert that 

 he had a house and home anywhere about that 

 tree. But when we did not pass, after hesitat- 

 ingly hopping from perch to perch nearer the 

 nest, he deliberately diverted yellow wing from 



