She Palace in the Pig-pen 
out at the gray wet world. He was humped and si- 
lent and meditative, his whole attitude speaking the 
extreme length of his day, the monotony of the drip, 
drip, drip from the eaves, and the sitting, the cease- 
less sitting, of his brooding wife. 
He might have hastened the time by catching a 
few flies for her or by taking her place on the nest, 
but I never saw him do it. 
Things were livelier when the eggs hatched, for it 
required a good many flies a day to keep the five 
young ones growing. And how they grew! Like 
bread sponge in a pan, they began to rise, pushing 
the mother up so that she was forced to stand over 
them ; then pushing her out until she could cling 
only to the side of the nest at night; then pushing 
her off altogether. By this time they were hanging 
to the outside themselves, covering the nest from 
sight, almost, until finally they spilled off upon their 
wings. 
Out of the nest upon the air! Out of the pen and 
into a sweet, wide world of green and blue and golden 
light! I saw the second brood take their first flight, 
and it was thrilling. 
The nest was placed back from and below the 
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