the door. This impressed Virginia; she stopped her hopping
and looked over at him with an air of wondering what he would do next.
What he did was to hop one step nearer, to the middle perch. Upon this
she abandoned her place, came to the floor, and began to eat in the most
indifferent manner; then passed into his cage, then back to the floor of
her own, still eating, while he sat silent and motionless on the middle
perch, evidently much disturbed by her conduct. After an hour of this
performance he retired to her upper perch, and stayed there.

The same day, the jealousy of the unsuccessful wooer was aroused by a
fine, fresh-looking cardinal whom he saw in the looking-glass. In flying
past it he caught a glimpse of his reflection, and at once turned,
alighted before it, and began calling vehemently; holding out, and
quivering his wings, and flying up against the figure again and again in
the most savage way. The next day he began to mope and refused to come
out of the cage; whether because of illness, or disappointed affections,
who shall say?

The time of her tormentor's retirement was one of great happiness to
Virginia. She paid her usual visit to the robin, and he, as at first,
vacated the cage, this having become the regular morning programme. Now,
too, she went on to extend her acquaintance by entering the cage of
another neighbor, a scarlet tanager, a shy, unobtrusive fellow, who
asked nothing but to be let alone. This bird also did not reciprocate
her neighborly sentiments; he met her with open beak, but finding that
did not awe her, nor prevent her calmly walking in, he hastily left the
cage himself. During the time that her persecutor was sulking, and not
likely to bother, she had leisure for the bath, which she enjoyed
freely, coming out with her long breast-feathers hanging in locks and
looking like a bundle of rags. Her last experimental call was now made
upon another household, the Baltimore orioles, and there she met with
something new--perfect indifference. Even when both of the birds were at
home they did not resent her coming in. She went to the upper perch with
them; the cage was big, there was plenty of room, and they were willing.
Their manners, in fact, were so agreeable that if their cups had been
supplied with seed, I think she would have taken up her abode with them;
as it was, she frequently spent half an hour at a time there. On this
eventful day Virginia began to sing, for in her family the m