8 A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. 



over to school behind me on Canello, pillion fash- 

 ion. As we pushed through the brush and into 

 the opening by the schoolhouse, scattered over 

 the grass sat a flock of handsome black-headed 

 grosbeaks, the western representative of the east- 

 ern rose-breast, looking, in the sun, almost as red 



Black-headed Grosbeak. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



(One half natural size.) (One half natural size.) 



as robins. They had probably come from the 

 south the night before. As we watched, they dis- 

 persed and sang sweetly in the oaks and brush. 



In the giant twin oak under whose shadow the 

 the little schoolhouse stood was an owl's nest. 

 When I stopped under it, nothing was to be seen 

 but the tips of the ears of the brooding bird. But 

 when I tried to hoot after the manner of owls, 

 the angry old crone rose up on her feet above the 

 nest till I could see her round yellow eyes and the 

 full length of her long ears. She snapped her 

 bill fiercely, bristled up, puffing out her feathers 

 and shaking them at us threateningly. Poor old 

 bird ! I was amused at her performances, but 



