A Family of Grosbeaks 49 



the nest, following their parents out into the limbs of the 

 arrow-wood. They were not able to fly more than a few 

 feet, but they knew how to perch and call for food. I 

 never heard a more enticing dinner-song, such a sweet, 

 musical " tour-a-lee." 



The triplets were slightly different in size and strength. 

 The eldest knew the note of alarm, and two or three 

 times when he got real hungry I heard him utter a shriek 

 that brought papa and mamma in a hurry to get there 

 before he was clear dead. Then he flapped his wings and 

 teased for a morsel. The minute his appetite was sat- 

 isfied he always took a nap. There was no worry on his 

 mind as to where the next bite was coming from. He 

 just contracted into a fluffy ball, and he didn't pause a 

 second on the border-land ; it was so simple ; his lids closed 

 and it was done. He slept soundly, too, for I patted his 

 feathers and he didn't wake. But at the flutter of wings 

 he awoke as suddenly as he dropped asleep. 



The parents fed their bantlings as much on berries as 

 on worms and insects. Once I saw the father distribute a 

 whole mouthful of green measuring-worms. The next 

 time he had visited a garden down the hillside, for he 

 brought one raspberry in his bill and coughed up three 

 more. Both parents soon got over their mad anxiety 

 every time I looked at their birdlings. In fact, they soon 

 seemed willing enough for me to share the bits from my 

 own lunch, for the youngsters were very fond of pieces 

 of cherry taken from a small stick, twirled in the air above 

 them. 



We spent the next two days watching and photograph- 

 ing, but it took all the third forenoon to find the three 



