NEW ENGLAND WINTER. 157 



abruptly his whim changes ; how discon- 

 nected his behavior seems ; how quickly and 

 unexpectedly he can pass from the most per- 

 fect quiescence into a fit of most intense ac- 

 tivity. I came upon such a fellow the other 

 day in crossing the Common, who, just as I 

 espied him, swooped upon a bunch of spar- 

 rows in an elm. He missed his aim, and in 

 half a minute made a second attempt upon 

 a similar group in another tree. This time 

 he singled out one of the flock, and took 

 chase after it ; but the terrified creature 

 ducked and turned, and finally got away, 

 whereupon the shrike betook himself to 

 a perch, and fell to making all manner of 

 noises, squeaks, whistles, twitters, and 

 what not, hopping about nervously mean- 

 while. The passers-by all stopped to look 

 at the show (perhaps because they saw 

 me staring upward), till finally a laborer 

 yielded to the school-boy instinct and let 

 fly a stone. The scamp was not greatly 

 frightened by this demonstration, and 

 merely flew to the tip of one of the tall 

 cotton - woods, where he immediately re- 

 sumed his vocal practice. 



It ought to be helpful to a man's inde- 



