44 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



and lakes — strange environment for a warbler. 



The present specimen seemed rather ill at 

 ease as he flitted around in the grass; but when 

 he darted up and perched upon the single tele- 

 phone wire that was strung along the road, he 

 quite put the finishing touch to his misfit pic- 

 ture. He did not favor us with a single note of 

 his " Witchety witchety witchety " song, which 

 soon he would be voicing from some lonely tan- 

 gle — a magical ditty, always seeming to come 

 from nowhere in particular, and thrice welcome 

 that it continues through the sultry July and Au- 

 gust afternoons when almost all the other singers 

 are silent. 



We had just started along the winter trail 

 through the oak scrub on the side of the ravine, 

 when we encountered another fair weather chap. 

 An oven bird emerged from the shrubbery and, 

 running along quite close ahead of us with his 

 strange wooden-legged gait, displayed plainly 

 his olive-green coat, black-streaked vest, and 

 gaudy orange cap. His confidence was much 

 appreciated, for it is seldom indeed that one of 

 these shy fellows grants an interview with any 

 degree of familiarity. Indeed, his voice or song, 

 of " Teacher teacher teacher," is known to hun- 



