SEEING WHAT YOU CAN SEE. H 



into sons:. His tliroat seemed to be a fountain 

 of music, from which his clear, bell-like tones 

 gurgled and bubbled and rippled, leaving a 

 trail of song spray behind him as he floated 

 throuo^h the air. 



It was evident, from the behavior of the 

 two birds, that they had a nest somewhere in 

 the grass. So I took my stand at some distance 

 to watch them, hoping they would dart down to 

 the nest and thus give me a chance to discover 

 their secret. But they had their nimble wits 

 about them. Mark how they managed to 

 throw me off the track. Whenever I started 

 toward the place where the female had 

 alighted, her mate would give the alarm by 

 loud chattering and singing, which would 

 bring her up from the grass before I could get 

 near. To mix matters still worse, she would 

 always rise at a point some distance from the 

 spot at which she had descended. This proved 

 that she had been running about in the grass 

 instead of sitting on the nest or feeding her 

 young. Besides, she descended at so many dif- 

 ferent places that I could form no idea where 

 the nest might be. There could be no doubt 

 that young birds were cuddled some where in 

 the tall grass, for the mother bird often held 

 an insect in her bill intended for her babies. 



