IN THE RdLE OF A PROVIDENCE. 47 



time, but I could not always tell whether they 

 carried food. Now the bluebird, honest soul, 

 always stops in plain sight to rest, with his 

 mouth full of dainties for his young brood, and 

 a robin will stand staring at one for two minutes 

 with three or four wriggling worms in his 

 beak. It is quite a different affair in the mock- 

 ing-bird family, as is certainly natural, after the 

 persecution it has endured. No special fear of 

 me was the cause, it is a marked peculiarity 

 of the bird ; and I think, with a little study, 

 one could learn to know exactly the moment 

 the eggs hatch by the sudden silence and wari- 

 ness of both birds. Poor little creatures! a 

 sympathetic friend hates to add to the anxiety 

 they suffer, and he cannot help a feeling of 

 reproach when the brave little head of the fam- 

 ily alights on the fence, and looks him straight 

 in the eye, as if to demand why he is subjected 

 to all this annoyance. I had to console myself 

 by thinking that I was undoubtedly a provi- 

 dence to him ; for I am certain that nothing 

 but my watching him so conspicuously that 

 every negro within a mile saw me, saved his 

 family to him, so low and easy of access was 

 the nest. 



The day those nestlings were one week old 

 they uttered their first cry. It was not at all 

 a " peep," but a cry, continued a few seconds ; 



