extraordinary interest in the work of the cat- 

 birds. The conduct of the robins was very un- 

 usual, and the woman began to watch. 



Evidently, according to robin standards, some- 

 thing about the new nest was wrong, something 

 that ought to be changed over robinwise. The 

 catbirds were not building just right. They were 

 a young couple, doubtless ; this was their first nest, 

 and the robins, who had built scores of nests, 

 looked on critically, compassionately, and with a 

 desire to advise that was almost killing them. 



The work went on for a day or two. Then it 

 chanced that both catbirds flew off together for 

 more building-material. The robins were watch- 

 ing. They could hold out no longer. Taking a 

 hasty look around to make sure that their young 

 neighbors were quite gone, one of the robins (the 

 woman in the window was too astonished to note 

 which) dropped to the ground, picked up a piece 

 of coarse grass, and hurried to the half-finished 

 nest. Stepping quickly in, she (it must have 

 been "she ") laid the straw along the rim of the 

 clumsy nest, and, cuddling down inside, drew the 

 ragged walls up to her round, shapely breast to 

 mold them into something like form. 

 [191] 



