64 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



seeing, and leave untravelled all the tree-tops save 

 the very few that surround the little spot they have 

 chosen for a home. The coming is abrupt ; and even 

 if it be true that their mates come later, that is, the 

 males are always in advance, they do not wait in 

 silence until they are moved by the arrival of part- 

 ners, but commence that strange series of cries that 



Chat. 



are so remarkable. If the females follow, they are 

 either aware of where their mates are, or accept the 

 very first bachelor they meet. For years I have been 

 familiar with the movements of these birds, and I 

 have never seen anything suggestive of courtship. 

 But once mated and their married life is one long 

 series of ecstatic demonstration. The climax of the 

 bird's eccentricity is while the female is sitting, when 

 he rises to a height of several feet above the nest 

 and, with fluttering wings and dangling legs, sings a 

 strange and never a melodious medley. These 

 strange sounds are imitative of every distressing and 

 harsh sound the bird has ever heard, and what adds 

 to the weirdness of it all, it is often ventriloquially 

 expressed. The bird has this power, and is aware of 

 its value in deceiving any intruder. I have experi- 

 mented too often with dozens of these birds not to be 



