126 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



he was distant but a scant six feet. Then after 

 a pose, he suddenly turned his head a little and 

 next moment began to dig. One, two, three 

 leaves down he went, dragged out some luckless 

 insect thing, and gulped it down. Then after 

 pecking a moment at the crispy fat on a bacon- 

 rind, he went on at his business ; but forthwith it 

 went down in the note-book that after all the 

 robin did not so much see things with his sharp 

 eye as he heard them with his sharp ear. 



All afternoon the south wind hummed 

 through the poplars and the withered catkins 

 showered down apace; borne along on the 

 favoring breeze came the migrant visitors. 

 A bright, rose-breasted grosbeak, warm- 

 weather chap and sure harbinger of summer, 

 "Cheeked! "a few times from close at hand, 

 and then went on his way without a song. 

 Next, a veery thrush was noted. He came 

 from somewhere in the shadows of the saskatoon 

 thicket, and after taking a low perch and gazing 

 with his white-rimmed eye stolidly at his human 

 neighbor, he also went off without testing his 

 vocal powers. Then came a kingbird, and 

 though he had no song, he was as noisy as ever 

 and announced at once that he was in possession 



