embarrassed by
his displeasure, she calmly accepted the relinquished position, and
prepared for sleep. This was far from satisfactory to his majesty, and
he jumped back as suddenly as he had gone; whereupon madam dropped to
the floor. But, with true oriole persistence, in a moment she tried it
again, going as before up the wires. Again the annoyed oriole deserted
his post, and, disappointed in the effect, returned; once more, also,
rather disconcerted, she descended to the floor. Not to stay, however.
She was as set in her way as he was, and to sleep in that corner was her
determination. This curious seesaw performance was reenacted far into
the twilight with amusing regularity, but how they finally settled it I
could not stay to see.

[Sidenote: _SHE REBELLED._]

The unfortunate condition of the female kept her in subjection a few
days, and then she rose superior to clothes, and quietly rebelled. The
possession of the bath was the first disputed point. There she took her
stand, bowed and postured on the edge, while he splashed unconcernedly
in the tub; and the next time she went so far as to remain in the water
and keep on bathing, while he assumed the offensive on the edge. After
trying in vain to awe or terrify her, he actually plumped in beside her,
and they spattered and fluttered side by side, as if they were
inseparable friends. The oriole, however, had learned a lesson. He
recognized a kindred spirit, and henceforth they lived peaceably
together, in a sort of armed neutrality. No quarreling disgraced their
house; each went on in his own way, and the other did not interfere.

One had no right to expect sociability between a pair living in mere
tolerance of each other, and yet I was disappointed that they did not
talk together. I wanted to hear them, but I listened in vain for weeks.
In sight or out of sight, it made no difference; they were the same
taciturn couple, each occupied in its own way, and never exchanging a
note. But at last I caught them. At night, during the winter, each cage
was closely wrapped in a thick, warm cover, and before this was taken
off in the morning I began to hear low murmurs from the orioles. One
spoke in a complaining tone, as if it said, "Why do you treat me thus?"
and the other uttered a regular oriole "chur-r-r." In time the sounds
grew louder, and I noticed in the querulous tone great variety of pitch,
inflection, and duration of note, accompanied often by a hopping back
and