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 

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