Cfi geegee-lokh-sis. 1 49 



nest. No other birds interested me now till the 

 chickadees came back. They were soon there, hop- 

 ping about on the rail as before, with just a wee note 

 of surprise in their soft twitter that I had changed 

 my position. This time I was not to be deceived 

 by a gymnastic performance, however interesting. I 

 kept my eyes fastened on the nest. The male was 

 undoubtedly going through with his most difficult 

 feats, and doing his best to engage my attention, 

 when I saw his mate glide suddenly from behind the 

 post and disappear into her doorway. I could hardly 

 be sure it was a bird. It seemed rather as if the 

 wind had stirred a little bundle of gray moss. Had 

 she moved slowly I might not have seen her, so 

 closely did her soft gray cloak blend with the weather- 

 beaten wood and the moss. 



In a few moments she reappeared, waited a moment 

 with her tiny head just peeking out of the knot-hole, 

 flashed round the post out of sight, and when I saw 

 her again it was as she reappeared suddenly beside 

 the male. 



Then I watched him. While his mate whisked 

 about the top rail he dropped to the middle one, 

 hopped gradually to one side, then dropped suddenly 

 to the lowest one, half hidden by vines, and disap- 

 peared. I turned my eyes to the nest. In a moment 

 there he was — just a little gray flash, appearing for 



