Page:The clerk of the woods.djvu/226

208 a burst of little, hurried, sweet-sounding, angry notes—always the same, or so nearly the same that my ear is unable to detect the difference.

Generally these manœuvres are successful; but now and then the feeder is so persistently greedy that I am tempted to assert a landlord's prerogative and tell him to begone. Only once have I ever seen two birds clinging to the bag together, although so far as I can make out, there is nothing to hinder their doing so; and even then they were not eating, but waiting to see which should give place to the other.

All in all, it is a very pleasing show. It is good to see the innocent creatures so happy. Nobody could look at them, their black eyes shining, their black bills striking into the meats, all their motions so expressive of eager enjoyment, without feeling glad on their account. And with all the rest, it may be said that an ease-loving man, with a meddlesome New England conscience, is not always sorry to have a decent, or better than decent, excuse for dropping work once in a while to look out of the window. Who says we are