ANXIOUS DAYS IN CROWLAND. 155 



and close observation, and departed as quietly 

 as tliey had come, unseen and unheard by clumsy 

 human senses. Often, indeed, have I wished for 

 eyes to look behind me, where it sometimes seems 

 that everything most interesting takes place. 



This secluded corner of the pasture proved to 

 be a very popular nursery with the feathered 

 world. Catbirds came about bearing food, and 

 all sorts of catbird talk went on within hearing : 

 the soft liquid " chuck " and " mew " (so called, 

 though it is more like " ma-a ") in all tones and 

 inflections, complaining, admonishing, warning, 

 and caressing. There was evidently a whole 

 family among the bushes. A vireo baby, plainly 

 just out of the cradle, stared at me, and ad- 

 dressed me with a sort of husky squawk, an 

 indescribable sound, which, until I became fa- 

 miliar with it, brought me out in hot haste to 

 see what terrible tragedy was going on. For 

 it is really a distressful cry, although it often 

 proclaims nothing more serious than that the 

 young vireo wants his dinner ; as some infants 

 of the human family scream at the top of their 

 voices under similar circumstances. 



Beyond the close-growing bushes I heard the 

 crow baby's quavering cry; and these seemed 

 indeed anxious days in crowland. All the little 

 folk were crying at once, in their loudest and 

 most urgent tones, enough to distract the hard- 



