94 NATURK STUDY. 



His great primaries spread apart in flight much as those 

 of a crow. The great cloud-like shadow of his large bulky 

 frame is reflected in the tin}^ stream, as he sails overhead. 

 A hardly audible expression of delight is enough to startle 

 another long legged beauty from a concealed grassy nook, 

 quite near the bittern's locality. 



This denizen of the swamp, the fourth great bird of the 

 morning, rises slowly, taking the opposite direction from 

 his associates, in solitary flight. He is not the great blue 

 heron for he is so much smaller than the bittern. His legs 

 are decidedly 3^ellow, and his back is a very clear blue, we 

 conclude we have seen an immature little blue heron. 



On the miniature pebbly beach, where the flow of the 

 brook is quickened, we get a glimpse of what appears to be 

 Wilson's plover. But the exit of the large birds is a sig- 

 nal for their departure. They leave their breakfast among 

 the pebbles, and whirl away like a flurry of autumn leaves. 

 Already feeling convinced that the misty morning is the 

 morning for sights, we push on toward the woods. 



Arriving at the edge of the spruce growth a pair of brown 

 thrashers silentlj^ hop across the brown road, disappearing 

 in a low white pine. The sun is trying to pierce the clouds. 

 Bunny is out in the road. Whatever his mission, he is 

 now immovable, thinking in this manner to escape detec- 

 tion. He is such a wee, woodland baby. Now he sees 

 his mother run, we are too near, so fear lends speed to his 

 legs, and his tail shows the white feather, as he bounds 

 away in the cool depths of the undergrowth, 



The fence wires are momentarily' occupied in succession 

 by bluebirds and kingbirds. A large number of flickers 

 inhabit this wood, their cries awakening the echoes as they 

 call from distant treetops to one another. The woods re- 

 sound with the jays' noisy cries, whose jargon vies with 

 that of the crows. 



A lull of sound drawing our attention to a blue cone-laden 



