his eyes. But for this, it is probable, he had only the indulgence of
the king-bird to thank. When at last the chastiser, tired of his task,
turned and flew back up the river toward the nest in the elm-crotch,
the ruffled crow took refuge out of sight, in the top of the densest
hemlock, where he rolled his eyes and preened his plumage silently for
an hour before daring again the vicissitudes of the wilderness world.

The nest to which the triumphant king-bird hurried back was
audaciously perched in plain view of every prowler. The crotch of the
elm-tree which it occupied was about twelve feet from the ground. The
intervale, or water-meadow, by the side of the river, held but a few
widely scattered trees,--trees of open growth, such as elm,
balsam-poplar, and water-ash. It was free from all underbrush. There
was nothing, therefore, to shield the nest from even the most careless
eyes; and with an insolence of fearlessness matched only by that of
the osprey, it was made the more conspicuous by having great tufts of
white wool from a neighbouring sheep-pasture woven into its bulky,
irregular frame. So irregular and haphazard, indeed, did it appear,
that it might almost have been mistaken for a bunch of rubbish left in
the tree from the time of freshet. But if the two king-birds relied on
this resemblance as a concealment, they presumed as so clever a bird
is not likely to do upon the blindness or stupidity of the wild
kindred. The wild kindred are seldom blind, and very seldom stupid,
because those members of the fellowship who are possessed of such
defects sooner or later go to feed their fellows. Hence it was that
most of the folk of the riverside, furred or feathered, knew well
enough what the big whitish-gray bunch of rubbish in the elm-crotch
was.

There were five eggs at the bottom of the smooth, warm cup, which
formed the heart of the nest. They were a little smaller than a
robin's egg, and of a soft creamy white, blotched irregularly with
dull purplish maroon of varying tone. So jealous of these mottled
marvels were the king-birds that not even the most harmless of
visitors were allowed to look upon them. If so much as a thrush, or a
pewee, or a mild-mannered white throat, presumed to alight on the very
remotest branch of that elm, it was brusquely driven away.

One morning early, the male king-bird was sitting very erect, as was
his custom, on the naked tip of a long, slender, dead branch some ten
feet above th