ff by his song. It was not till several days later,
when she had given up brooding, that I ever saw the pair meet at the
nest, and then it seemed to be accidental, and one of them always left
immediately.

During the first few days the young parents came and went as of old, by
way of the ladder, and I learned to know them apart by their way of
mounting that airy flight of steps. He was more pert in manner, held his
head and tail more jauntily, though he rarely pointed his tail to the
sky, as do some of the wren family. He went lightly up in a dancing
style which she entirely lacked, sometimes jumping to a small shoot that
grew up quite near the walnut, and running up that as easily as he did
the tree. Her ascent was of a business character; she was on duty, head
and tail level with her body, no airs whatever. He was so full of
happiness in these early days that frequently he could not take time to
go to the top, but, having reached a height of two or three feet, he
flew, and at once burst into rapturous song, even sang while flying
over to the next tree. From this time they almost abandoned the ladder
they had been so fond of, and flew directly to the nest from the ground,
where they got all their food. This change was not because they were
hard worked; I never saw birds who took family cares more easily. At the
expiration of three days the mother brooded no more, and indeed it would
have troubled her to find a place for herself, the nest was so full.

Every morning on entering the court I called at the nest, and always
found five yellow beaks turned to the front. On the third day the heads
were covered with slate-colored down; on the fourth, wing-feathers began
to show among the heads, but the body was still perfectly bare; on the
fifth, the eyes opened on the green world about them,--they were then
certainly five days old, and may have been seven; owing to our
unfortunate absence at the critical time I cannot be sure. On the
seventh day the red-brown of the back began to show, and the white of
the breast made itself visible, while the heads began to look feathery
instead of fuzzy. Even then, however, they took no notice when I put my
finger on them.

Long before this time the manner of the parents had changed. In the
first place, they were more busy; foraging industriously on the ground,
coming within ten or fifteen feet of us, without appearing to see us at
all. In fact they had, after the first day, paid no attent