e his points, he went to the dead tree, when the philosophical
phoebe sitting there took his case in hand, and made a dash for him.
The stranger flew straight over the house, with his assailant in close
chase. But in a moment I heard the baby-cry in a maple beside the
cottage, while the phoebe calmly returned to his post and gave his
mind again to his fly-catching. The young bird was not in range from the
window, but when, a few seconds later, I heard the feeding-cry, I could
no longer resist the desire to see him.

I forgot my caution, and rushed out of the house, for I suspected that
this uneasy visitor was the chestnut-sided's adopted charge. So I found
it. There stood the infant, big and clumsy by comparison, calling,
calling, forever calling; and stretching up on tiptoe, as it were, to
reach him was the poor little warbler, trying to stop his mouth by
stuffing him. The foster-parent lingered as if he were weary, and his
plumage looked as if he had not dressed it for a week. But the insatiate
beggar gave him no peace; with the swallowing of the last morsel began
his cry for more. Again, standing within ten feet of him, I noticed the
young bird's points, and again I was convinced that he was not a
cowbird baby.

The curious antics of a solemn kingbird, who did not suspect his hidden
observer, were droll to look upon. He seemed to be alone on the fence,
though some silent spectator may have been hidden behind the leaves. He
mounted suddenly straight up in the air, with cries, twenty feet or
more, then soared down with a beautiful display of his plumage. This he
did many times in succession, with an indescribably conscious air, and
at last he dropped behind some tall grass in the pasture. It looked
exceedingly like "showing off," and who could imagine a kingbird in that
role!

But all flourishes were over when, somewhat later, he brought his lovely
little family of three to the fence to be treated to berries. It was
interesting to see a fly-catcher take his fruit "on the wing," as it
were; that is, fly at it, seize it, and jerk it off without alighting.
The phoebe picked berries in the same way, when he occasionally
condescended to investigate the attraction that brought so many
strangers into his quiet corner.

The young kingbirds were sweet and chatty among themselves, and they
decidedly approved the berries; but they never lost sight of each other,
and kept close together, the little company of three, as I have