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them until I was so near that I could easily distinguish the yellow 

 markings of the feathers, and get a pretty fair mental picture of the 

 bird for comparison with the description which, after some research, I 

 found in my " Mcllwraith." I have dwelt somewhat at length upon 

 this as being a very fair sample of the way in which I identified the 

 one hundred and twenty species of birds I have now the pleasure of 

 numbering amongst my acquaintances. This number I am aware is a 

 small showing for two years' work, but as yet I have had but little 

 opportunity to visit the haunts of the water birds. Of course I varied 

 my plans to suit the circumstances, and when the birds seemed unwil- 

 ling to have me go to them, I reversed Mahomet's plan with the 

 mountain and sat down and waited till the birds came to me. If many 

 a time I got tantalizing glimpses for a moment only of some new or 

 rare bird, which tempted me to regret my lack of a gun, there were few 

 instances in which I was not afterwards rewarded by a longer and 

 nearer view of the same bird, which enabled me to identify it, at least 

 to my own satisfaction. Besides, I always consoled myself with the 

 reflection that the noise of a gun would have driven away more birds 

 than its use would have secured. Having thus outlined my plan of 

 campaign, it remains to give you the promised anecdotes of bird ways, 

 though I cannot reasonably hope that my observations will interest you 

 as they did me, to whom everything I saw was a new revelation. 



One of the first things that struck me about the birds was a very 

 human quality in many of their actions, and strange to say it was not 

 always the noblest traits of man they chose for imitation. For instance 

 my admiration for the stronger sex was not much increased by watching 

 the actions of a Downy Woodpecker, who would not respond to his 

 wife's frenzied entreaties for help in driving from their door a big, 

 able-bodied tramp of a Flicker who insisted on getting in. There sat 

 Mr. Downy in a neighbouring tree, and would not stir a wing, though 

 his better half even left the door unguarded for a moment, and went to 

 fetch him, but when the intruder was driven away by my rapping on 

 the the trunk of the tree with a stick, he came swaggering home, and 

 took all the credit of it to himself. It was only when he was thus 

 shamelessly boasting of his prowess that I noticed the scarlet fez he 

 wore on the back of his head, and reflected that one could expect no 



