OUR HOME BIRDS. 
155 
tress. When the young ones are able to leave the 
nest, the father spends much of his time in feeding 
them, and does not seem then to care about conceal- 
ment. 
“ A young tanager that had just left the nest was 
caught one morning, and put in a cage suspended 
from a large pine tree, the nest of an orchard oriole, 
with young ones in it, being quite near the cage. It 
was supposed that the parent orioles would feed the 
little stranger, but their charity evidently began and 
ended at home. The plaintive cries of the poor little 
orphan made no impression on them ; but they were 
heard for a long distance, for a bright flash of scarlet 
came darting toward the cage, and a magnificent tan- 
ager, probably the little bird's parent, tried its best to 
get in. Finding this impossible, it flew off only to 
return with food in its bill ; and continued to stuff 
the young one until after sunset, when it took up its 
lodging on a higher branch of the same tree. 
“ Almost at dawn the scarlet tanager was busy 
again at its office of love ; and although the orioles 
were offensively insolent, it persevered all through 
the day, and spent the second night as before. On 
the third or fourth day he seemed in despair at the 
little one's continued imprisonment, calling to him 
constantly to come out, and trying every means in 
his power to set him at liberty. 
