THE OOLOGIST 



205 



been in bad company, or else had been 

 keeping late hours. For her condition 

 clearly indicated that she had reached 

 that advanced stage of intoxication 

 which is described as "sociably in- 

 ebriated." 



She staggered, she fell, she re- 

 covered herself and reeled about, but 

 always out of reach. She uttered un- 

 intelligible sounds and seemed rather 

 inclined to hilarity. And finally, to 

 my utter confusion, after having led 

 me for six or eight rods down the 

 track, conducting myself all the time 

 in such a waj^ that I must have ap- 

 peared ridiculous to the chance ob- 

 server, she suddenly came to a com- 

 plete recovery of her full powers and 

 winged her way into the distance, 

 hurling behind her anathema and dis- 

 dain. 



I pocketed my chagrin as best I 

 could, shook my fist at the the now 

 jubilant deceiver, and retracing my 

 steps to a point about five rods back 

 of the spot where the pseudo-invalid 

 had first appeared. I crouched behind 

 some convenient tile and awaited de- 

 velopments. Nor had I long to wait. 

 Very soon the erstwhile paralytic de- 

 scended to the track and ran nimbly 

 along the ties, uttering her mournful 

 "D-E-A-R, dear, dear," which no doubt 

 indicated her complete sympathy for 

 gullible state of mankind in general. 



She ran about ten or twelve feet, 

 then paused for an instant to note 

 whether she was observed, I suppose. 

 But I remained under cover, for I was 

 incensed at the treatment I had re- 

 ceived. Soon she made another dash 

 forward, with waning sympathy for 

 the untutored state of man, and final- 

 ly the sounds died out altogether and 

 Mrs. Killdeer came to rest just ten 

 inches outside one of the iron rails 

 and disappeared. 



Realizing that my stalking was at 

 an end, 1 arose and walked leisurely 



up the track, keeping my eye fixed on 

 the spot where my victim had appar- 

 ently vanished. Suddenly a brownish 

 white streak shot a few feet up the 

 track, close to the ground, and again 

 I beheld that same little imposter, 

 throwing epileptic fits and three dif- 

 ferent kinds of convulsions, and ap- 

 parently afflicted with all the ailments 

 that every kind of fiesh is heir to. But 

 I have never been a rolling stone, and 

 I was not to be beguiled again by the 

 same realistic mendacity or wendacium 

 realism. I soon reached the spot she 

 was so anxious for me to pass by and 

 there, close to the rail, and lying in a 

 slight depression in the gravel, were 

 four speckled eggs, surrounded by half 

 a dozen blotched pebbles, their equal 

 in size, and almost indistinguishable 

 from them. 



As the incubation was certain to be 

 interrupted in such surroundings, I 

 added the set to my rather meagre 

 collection without a qualm, and I felt 

 that, all things considered, matters be- 

 tween Mrs. Killdeer and myself now 

 stood about fifty-fifty for points. 



But it would seem that Mrs. Killdeer 

 was not altogether satisfied with my 

 division of the honors. I presume 

 that from her view point I had snuffed 

 out the careers of four other little 

 promising prevaricators, which doubt- 

 less seemed ample justification to her 

 for the annoyance I was subjected to 

 throughout the summer. For so surely 

 as 1 would come anywhere within 

 range of the Killdeer habitat, some 

 member of the family would instantly 

 take wing, screaming at the top of his 

 voice, "Here comes the long-legged six 

 foot egg-stealer! Let's make it warm 

 for him." And then the insults would 

 begin to come from all sides, and if I 

 ventured down to the shore there 

 would appear several members of the 

 family, in various stages of decrepi- 

 tude, each with some acrimonious as- 

 persion on his tongue's end, twitting 



