JOY OF THE PARENTS. 173 



small bag of skin attached to each. Nothing 

 else could be seen. She sat an hour at a time, 

 and then her mate would come and call her off 

 for a rest and a change, while he skipped down 

 the ladder and fed the bairns. His way in this 

 matter, as in everything else, was characteristic. 

 He never went to the nest till he had called her 

 off by his song. It was not till several days 

 later, when she had given up brooding, that I 

 ever saw the pair meet at the nest, and then it 

 seemed to be accidental, and one of them always 

 left immediately. 



During the first few days the young parents 

 came and went as of old, by way of the ladder, 

 and I learned to know them apart by their way 

 of mounting that airy flight of steps. He was 

 more pert in manner, held his head and tail more 

 jauntily, though he rarely pointed his tail to the 

 sky, as do some of the wren family. He went 

 lightly up in a dancing style which she entirely 

 lacked, sometimes jumping to a small shoot that 

 grew up quite near the walnut, and running up 

 that as easily as he did the tree. Her ascent 

 was of a business character ; she was on duty, 

 head and tail level with her body, no airs what- 

 ever. He was so full of happiness in these early 

 days that frequently he could not take time to go 

 to the top, but, having reached a height of two 

 or three feet, he flew, and at once burst into 



