The Birds’ Calendar 
there had been left standing, I was surprised by 
what seemed to be the responsive notes of two 
birds apparently perched within a few feet of 
the road, and some yards distant from each 
other. The bird on the right uttered two 
notes (not of the same pitch), and after a slight 
pause was answered by the bird on the left with 
two notes quite different from the first. Here 
was a case of dialogue more pronounced than 
had ever come within my experience. Fear- 
ing to frighten them when so near me (as I 
thought), I stood still for a minute listening to 
the colloquy, and endeavoring to locate the 
participants. The effect was always the same, 
and I could have sworn there were two birds. 
Failing to find them, I approached cautiously, 
and the responsive music kept just as far in ad- 
vance, until after going some hundreds of feet, I 
discovered the source of the whole performance 
in a single bird that was still a long distance 
ahead of me, which instantly darted away as I 
approached. Although I did not identify the 
gay deceiver, I had the meagre satisfaction of 
realizing that I had been most neatly and com- 
pletely fooled. 
On another occasion, when I knew I was 
within a yard or two of a red-eyed vireo, his 
278 
