time; when clear and sharp arose a cry in answer, "Here! Here!
Here!" It came from a female that had accepted the caresses of
the brightest cardinal in Rainbow Bottom only the day before, and
had spent the morning carrying twigs to a thicket of red haws.

The Cardinal, with a royal flourish, sprang in air to seek her;
but her outraged mate was ahead of him, and with a scream she
fled, leaving a tuft of feathers in her mate's beak. In turn the
Cardinal struck him like a flashing rocket, and then red war
waged in Rainbow Bottom. The females scattered for cover with
all their might. The Cardinal worked in a kiss on one poor
little bird, too frightened to escape him; then the males closed
in, and serious business began. The Cardinal would have enjoyed
a fight vastly with two or three opponents; but a half-dozen made
discretion better than valour. He darted among them, scattering
them right and left, and made for the sycamore. With all his
remaining breath, he insolently repeated his challenge; and then
headed down stream for the sumac with what grace he could
command.

There was an hour of angry recrimination before sweet peace
brooded again in Rainbow Bottom. The newly mated pair finally
made up; the females speedily resumed their coquetting, and
forgot the captivating stranger--all save the poor little one
that had been kissed by accident. She never had been kissed
before, and never had expected that she would be, for she was a
creature of many misfortunes of every nature.

She had been hatched from a fifth egg to begin with; and every
one knows the disadvantage of beginning life with four sturdy