12 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



them again, as was the other male with the other, 

 yet the two couples did not separate till the males 

 had come into collision once more. Presently, how- 

 ever, they drifted apart, and each pair was soon 

 holding an animated conversation punctuated by 

 those pretty wing gestures, about the two bird- 

 boxes. 



These scenes of love and rivalry had lasted 

 nearly all* the forenoon, and matters between the 

 birds apparently remained as they were before — 

 the members of each pair quite satisfied with 

 each other. One pair occupied one of the bird- 

 boxes in the vineyard and reared two broods 

 there during the season, but the other pair drifted 

 away and took up their abode somewhere else. 



