Not the least interesting of my summer neighbors is a Quaker family
named Chebec, the least fly-catchers.
They are little people, else they would not be least fly-catchers,
plainly dressed, with olive shoulder-capes lined with yellow, wings
finely barred with black and white and heads dark and mousy. The large
eyes, circled with white, are as full of expression as a thrush's.
What is lacking in song is made up in an energy decidedly muscular, the
originality of the note _chebec_, uttered with a jerk of the head or
a launch into the air after some passing insect, never being confused
with other bird voices.
It is not Chebec himself that commands my special admiration, but
"Petite," his winsome little lady, with her rare gentleness and
confidence. Our intimacy began when she was living on a long maple
branch that nearly touched my chamber window, and she was dancing
attendance upon four pure-white eggs when I became conscious of her
neighborly intentions. She soon settled down into the most demure
little matron, a regular stay-at-home, really grudging the time
necessary for taking her meals. Later, when I "peeked in" at the
nestlings, Petite only hugged them closer, nor did she leave until my
hand was laid on her shoulder. We were soon fast friends. The most
tempting morsels the neighborhood afforded were brought to her door,
and, though she was unwearied in the family service, my efforts were
gratefully received, even anticipated. The following spring her choice
of residence was a bough that hung over the door, coming to the end of
the branch whenever I appeared in an effort to express her approval.
For, you see, I had given her a quantity of strings and lace and cotton
for her nest, and she was truly grateful!
Excess of splendor is always perilous. The work of art was no sooner
completed than Robin Redbreast grew envious, rushed over and pulled out
the finest strings, leaving the nest in so shaky a condition that the
wind soon finished it.
Petite's feelings were deeply injured--she could not be induced to
rebuild near her malicious neighbor.
To help her forget her troubles I gave her some yellow ravelings, much
handsomer than those Robin had stolen.
Thoroughly consoled, she worked as fast as she possibly could until the
last ray of light had faded. Knowing that Robin's impudence had delayed
her spring's work, I did my best to supply her needs.
Altogether her patience was extreme. Occasionally she hinted gently
that her time was precious or that I was keeping her waiting, as she
hovered about my face or rested briefly upon my shoe, keeping a sharp
lookout meanwhile upon the cloth I was raveling.
How she scampered off when it was ready, snatching it from my hand
before it reached the ground!
The next day saw the new house completed--no ordinary affair, but
a magnificent dwelling, yellow from foundation to rafter, with a
long, fantastic fringe of the same floating from its rim and waving
gracefully in every breeze.
Petite now became my attentive companion in my garden work, talking in
subdued tones from the nearest branch as if she felt the seriousness of
the occasion, circling in the air and alighting on the same bough in
pretended alarm when I tried to touch her soft, delicate feathers.
May 3d of this present year she called softly from the orchard that she
had arrived. For a few days she had little to say, wearied with the
long journey and being broken of her rest, as must have been the case.
She was not quite herself, either--really put on airs and kept at a
distance; but when she began to think of housekeeping she was the same
trusting darling that won my heart and gave me willing hands in her
service.
We talked matters over on the piazza while she fluttered about my head,
touched my hat with dainty feet, or poised before me to say in her own
pretty way that it was quite time to be thinking of sitting. "What do
you propose to do for me _this_ year? How much help can I rely upon
from you?" she asked as plainly as if she spoke English.
"Ah, Petite," I answered, "you must not demand _too_ much. It is quite
time the sweet peas were planted!" But words were useless; she coaxed,
enticed, pleaded, until mine was a full and unconditioned surrender.
"You deserve it, Petite, for your perseverance! You shall have the
finest house that was ever seen in this section," I said, and with that
promise we parted.
I found a quantity of jeweler's cotton, pink as a rosebud, soft and
fluffy and light enough to satisfy the most fastidious bird architect.
Small pieces were placed upon lawn and tree trunks, where Petite soon
spied them; her first impulse was one of approval.
Not meaning to be rash in her judgment, her head was cocked cunningly
on one side as she poised, eyeing them closely, until I feared that,
dissatisfied, she would accuse me of breaking my promise.
When she seized one, cautiously, in her beak and sailed away with it
trailing after her in the air my fears were over. As no harm attended
its transfer to the orchard, where it was adjusted to her taste, her
admiring mate left his fly-catching to help in the work, the cotton
disappearing so rapidly there were signs of a corner in the market.
The nest, strengthened with a few strings, grew rapidly toward
completion. To all appearance its unique beauty was a matter of
congratulation, the builders regarding it from all sides with intense
satisfaction.
[Illustration: QUINCE.
FROM KOEHLER'S MEDICINAL-PFLANZEN.
CHICAGO:
A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER.]
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE.--_A_, flowering twig; _B_, fruit;
1, stipules; 2, flower in section; 3, stamen; 4, pollen; 5, style;
6, stigma; 7 and 8, fruit in sections; 9 and 10, seeds of one cell
of the ovary; 11, seeds; 12, seed in sections.