BIRDS OF KANSAS * 121 



the innumerable little eminences that mark a dog town, 

 amid their curious surroundings, they present a spectacle 

 not easily forgotten. Their figure is peculiar ; with their 

 long legs and short tail, the element of the grotesque is 

 never wanting. It is hard to say whether they look most 

 ludicrous as they stand stiffly erect and motionless, or when 

 they suddenly turn tail to duck into the hole, or when en- 

 gaged in their various antics. Bolt upright, on what may 

 be imagined their rostrum, they gaze about with a bland 

 and self-satisfied but earnest air, as if about to address 

 an audience upon a subject of great pith and moment. 

 They suddenly bow low, with profound gravity, and, rising 

 abruptly, they begin to twitch their faces and roll their 

 eyes about in the most mysterious manner, gesticulating 

 wildly, every now and then bending forward till the breast 

 almost touches the ground, to propound the argument with 

 more telling effect; then they face about to address the 

 rear, that all may alike feel the force of their logic; they 

 draw themselves up to the fullest height, outwardly calm 

 and self-contained, pausing in the discourse to note its 

 effect upon the audience and collect their wits for the next 

 rhetorical flourish. And no distant likeness between these 

 frothy orators and others is found in the celerity with 

 which they subside and seek their holes on the slightest 

 intimation of danger." 



Eggs usually four to seven (as high as eleven have been 

 taken), 1.22x1.04; pure white; in form, subspherical. 



