114 PHILLIDA AND CORIDON. 



be any nests this year, nor any young birds. 

 But by and by he discovers that somehow, he 

 cannot surmise how, it must have been when 

 his eyes were turned the other way, the scene 

 is entirely changed, the maidens are all wedded, 

 and even now the nests are being got ready. 



I watched a trio of cat-birds in a clump of 

 alder bushes by the roadside ; two males, almost 

 as a matter of course, " paying attentions " to 

 one female. Both suitors were evidently in 

 earnest ; each hoped to carry off the prize, and 

 perhaps felt that he should be miserable for- 

 ever if he were disappointed ; and yet, on their 

 part, everything was being done decently and 

 in order. So far as I saw, there was no dispo- 

 sition to quarrel. Only let the dear creature 

 choose one of them, and the other would take 

 his broken heart away. So, always at a modest 

 remove, they followed her about from bush to 

 bush, entreating her in most loving and persua- 

 sive tones to listen to their suit. But she, all 

 this time, answered every approach with a 

 snarl ; she would never have anything to do 

 with either of them ; she disliked them both, 

 and only wished they would leave her .to her- 

 self. This lasted as long as I stayed to watch. 

 Still I had little doubt she fully intended to 

 accept one of them, and had even made up her 

 mind already which it should be. She knew 



