ity. It was plain
that she simply wished to pass away the time. She stepped from the
trunk upon a twig on one side, stayed a little while, then passed to one
on the other side, lingered a few moments, and so she went on. When she
arrived at the height of two feet she perched on a small dead twig, and
remained a long time--certainly twenty minutes--absolutely motionless.
It was hard to see her, and if I had not watched her progress from the
first, I should not have suspected her presence. A leaf would hide her,
even the crossing of two twigs was ample screen, and when she was still
it was hopeless to look for her. The only way we were able to keep track
of either of the pair was by their incessant motions.

The Great Carolinian had a peculiar custom which showed that his coming
with song was a ceremony he would not dispense with. He would often
start off singing, gradually withdraw till fifty or seventy-five feet
away, singing at every pause, and then, if one watched him closely, he
might see him stop, drop to the ground, and hunt about in silence. When
he was ready to come again, he would fly quietly a little way off, and
then begin his singing and approaching, as if he had been a mile away.
He never sang when on the ground after food, but so soon as he finished
eating, he flew to a perch at least two feet high, generally between six
and ten, and sometimes as high as twenty feet, and sang.

After a day or two of the wren's singular uneasiness, we discovered at
least one object of his concern. It was a chipmunk, whom we had often
noticed perched on the highest point of the little ledge of rocks near
the nest. He seemed to be attending strictly to his own affairs, but
after a good deal of "dear-r-r"-ing, the wren flew furiously at him,
almost, if not quite, hitting him, and doing it again and again. The
little beast did not relish this treatment and ran off, the bird
following and repeating the assault. This was undoubtedly the foe that
he had been troubled about all the time.

On the tenth or eleventh day of their lives (as I believe) I examined
the babies in the nest a little more closely than before. I even touched
them with my finger on head and beak. They looked sleepily at me, but
did not resent it. If the mother were somewhat bigger, I should suspect
her of giving them "soothing syrup," for they had exactly the appearance
of being drugged. They were not overfed; I never saw youngsters so much
let alone. The paren