How he winnowed it
with his eager wings! How he seemed to bear on
to that blank space! His mate sat regarding him
intently, confident, I think, that he would find
the clue. But he did not. Baffled and excited, he
returned to the perch beside her. Then she tried
again, then he rushed down once more, then they
both assaulted the place, but it would not give up
its secret. They talked, they encouraged each
other, and they kept up the search, now one, now
the other, now both together. Sometimes they
dropped down to within a few feet of the entrance
to the nest, and we thought they would surely
find it. No, their minds and eyes were intent only
upon that square foot of space where the nest had
been. Soon they withdrew to a large limb many
feet higher up, and seemed to say to themselves,
``Well, it is not there, but it must be here
somewhere; let us look about.'' A few minutes elapsed,
when we saw the mother bird spring from her
perch and go straight as an arrow to the nest. Her
maternal eye had proved the quicker. She had
found her young. Something like reason and
common sense had come to her rescue; she had
taken time to look about, and behold! there was
that precious doorway. She thrust her head into
it, then sent back a call to her mate, then went
farther in, then withdrew. ``Yes, it is true, they
are here, they are here!'' Then she went in again,
gave them the food in her beak, and then gave
place to her mate, who, after similar demonstrations
of joy, also gave them his morsel.
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