A RARE BIRD. 199 



time it was for a schoolgirl who had staked out 

 her horse on the edge of the island and was cross- 

 ing over to the schoolhouse. A few moments 

 later the bell rang out so loudly that Billy stepped 

 around his oak with animation, but the phaino- 

 peplas were used to it and showed no uneasi- 

 ness. 



Before long a flash of white announced a second 

 bird, and then, after a long interval in which 

 nothing happened, the male pitched into a bush 

 with beak bristling with building material ! My 

 delight knew no bounds. Instead of nesting in 

 the top of an oak in a remote canyon, as I had 

 been assured the shy birds would do, here they 

 were building in a low oak not more than an 

 eighth of a mile from the house, and in plain 

 sight. Moreover, they were birds who knew me 

 at home, and so would really be much less afraid 

 than strangers, whatever airs they assumed. In 

 the photograph, the bare twigs of the perch tree 

 show above the line of the horizon ; the nest tree 

 is the low oak beside it on the risht. One thins 1 

 puzzled me from the outset. While the male 

 worked on the nest, the female sat on the outside 

 circle of brush as if having nothing to do, in spite 

 of the fact that her gray dress toned in so well 

 with the brush that she was quite inconspicuous, 

 while his shining black coat made him a clear 

 mark from a distance. What did it mean? I 

 invented all sorts of fancies to account for it. 



