long the top of the board fence,
looking down, till he had selected his berry. Then he half dropped, half
flew, into the bushes, and sometimes seized the ripe morsel instantly,
without alighting, but generally hung, back down, on a stalk which bent
and swayed with his weight, while he deliberately gathered the fruit. He
then returned to the fence, laid his prize down, and pecked it apart,
making three or four bites of it. After some practice he learned to
swallow a berry whole, though it often required three or four attempts,
and seemed almost more than he could manage. When he had accomplished
this feat, he sat with his head drawn down into his shoulders, as though
he found himself uncomfortably stuffed. Having eaten two or three
raspberries, our distinguished visitor always picked another, with which
he flew away,--doubtless for the babies growing up in some dead tree
across the lane.

The little difficulty with the robin was easily settled by the stranger.
Somewhat later in that first day, he took his revenge for the insulting
dash over him by turning the tables and sweeping over the lofty head of
the astonished robin, who ducked ingloriously, in his surprise, and
called out, "Tut! tut!" as who should say, "Can such things be?" After
that Master Robin undertook a closer surveillance of that highway the
fence, and might be seen at all hours perched on the tall gatepost,
looking out for callers in brilliant array, or running along its whole
length to see that no wily woodpecker was hiding in the bushes. He could
not be on guard every moment, for his nursery up under the eaves of the
barn was full of clamorous babies, and he was obliged to give some
attention to them; but the red-head was not afraid of him, and, finding
the fruit to his taste, he soon became a daily guest.

Sometimes the spouse of the gay little fellow came also. She was always
greeted by a low-whispered "kr-r-r," and the husky-toned conversation
between the two was kept up so long as both were there. Now, too, as the
male began to feel at home, I saw more of his odd ways. His attitudes
were especially comical. Sometimes he clung to the edge of the top
board, his tail pressed against it, his wings drooped and spread a
little, exposing his whole back, and thus remained for perhaps ten
minutes. Again he flattened himself out on top of a post for a sun
bath. He sprawled and spread himself, every feather standing independent
of its neighbor, till he looked