204 BIRDS'-NESTING. 



how things are getting on, or to see if his presence is 

 not needed, or to take madam a morsel of food. No 

 doubt he keeps within ear-shot, and a cry of distress 

 or alarm from the mother-bird would bring him to 

 the spot in an instant. Would that some evil fate 

 would make her cry then ! Presently he encounters 

 a rival. His feeding-ground infringes upon that of 

 another, and the two birds regard each other threat- 

 eningly. This is a good sign, for their nests are 

 evidently near. 



Their battle-cry is a low, peculiar chirp, not very 

 fierce, but bantering and confident. They quickly 

 come to blows, but it is a very fantastic battle, and, 

 as it would seem, indulged in more to satisfy their 

 sense of honor than to hurt each other, for neither 

 party gets the better of the other, and they separate 

 a few paces and sing, and squeak, and challenge each 

 other in a very happy frame of mind. The gauntlet 

 is no sooner thrown down than it is again taken up 

 by one or the other, and in the course of fifteen or 

 twenty minutes they have three or four encounters, 

 separating a little, then provoked to return again like 

 two cocks, till finally they withdraw beyond hearing 

 of each other both, no doubt, claiming the victory. 

 But the secret of the nest is still kept. Once I think 

 I have it. I catch a glimpse of a bird which looks 

 like the female, and near by, in a small hemlock 

 about eight feet from the ground, my eye detects a 

 nest. But as I come up under it, I can see daylight 

 Uirough it, and that it is empty evidently only part 



