s day the
father took rather more than half the charge of the provision supply,
and with considerable regularity. During four hours that the nest was
closely watched, its tenants were fed at about five-minute intervals for
half an hour; and then mamma promptly smothered their ambition, as above
mentioned, for perhaps a quarter of an hour, when, if they did not take
naps like "good little birdies," they at least were forced to keep
still.

This young matron reminded me of some mothers of a larger growth, she
was so fussy, so careful that her charges did not go too fast for their
strength, while her spouse made it his business to see that she did not
keep them tender by over-coddling. He allowed her to brood them for
fifteen minutes; longer than that he would not tolerate, but came like a
fiery meteor to see that she moved. She plainly understood his
intention, for the instant he appeared she darted off, although he did
not touch the nest. All day the weight of responsibility kept this rover
at home; he might generally be seen on the lower branches of his tree,
darting about in perfect silence; but once or twice I saw him actually
loitering, a pleasant pastime of which I never suspected a redstart.

Six days appears to be the limit of time a redstart baby can submit to a
cradle. (I know this does not agree with the books, so I explain that it
was six days from the time constant sitting ceased. If the young were
out of the shell before that, they were covered all the time, and not
fed.) The day that stirring urchin was six days old he mounted the edge
of the nest and tried his wings. When mamma came, he asked for food in
the usual bird-baby way, gentle flutters of the wings; but this haste
was certainly not pleasing to the little dame, and upon her departure I
noticed that he had returned to the nursery.

However, his ambition was roused,--the ambition of a redstart to be
moving,--and at seven o'clock the next morning, his seventh day, he came
out with his mind made up to stay. First a shaky little yellowish head
appeared above the nest; then the owner thereof clambered out upon a
twig, three inches higher. One minute he rested, to glance around the
new world, and quickly increased the distance to six inches, where he
stood fidgeting, arranging his feathers, and evidently preparing for a
tremendous flight, when his anxious parent returned. Plainly, he would
have been wiser to wait another day, for all the time it was dif