76 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



sources, flowed gaily, and rippled on and on — 

 strange requiem for a martyred widow. We 

 were somewhat at a loss to understand the pur- 

 port of that song till next morning revealed two 

 nest-building shrikes in the garden. That mu- 

 sical effort had evidently served a double pur- 

 pose. When the new wife was hastened off 

 over the same route as that taken by the first, the 

 twice-widowed survivor again sought his elevated 

 perch and whistled. He was rewarded by get- 

 ting a third wife. 



Attempts were now made on the life of the 

 seductive whistler himself, but he had grown 

 wary and kept out of range, so the war of exter- 

 mination was continued against his wives. As 

 quickly as he lost one, he whistled up another; 

 and he never required more than a day or two to 

 get her. On the day that the fifth wife suffered, 

 the Bluebeard himself was shot also, and the 

 series of cruelties came to an end. Where he got 

 these unmated females must always remain mys- 

 terious. It is almost inconceivable that there 

 could be so many spinsters in the neighborhood, 

 and it is improbable that he could be guilty of 

 stealing his neighbors' wives. But they came to 

 him from somewhere ; that fact remains. 



