THE GIFTS OF AUGUST 17 



the Brown Flycatcher. The fact that Jack o' Winter 

 is much more quietly garbed than the other small 

 species matters least of all to him ; he is just as com- 

 panionable as any of them, and a good deal more 

 assertive. 



I remember being much entertained in a far-off 

 August by the antics of one of these little brown 

 sprites, which insisted in dancing attendance on a 

 distant relative, a Restless Flycatcher to wit. 

 Jacky's motives may have been purely disinterested, 

 but it seemed to me he cherished a shrewd idea that 

 the curious rasping notes or whirring wings of the 

 "Scissors-Grinder" would disturb sufficient insects 

 for them both. Some element of the same suspicion 

 evidently possessed the black and white bird. He 

 showed no appreciation whatever of his relative's 

 company, and once or twice he snapped viciously at 

 the uninvited guest who sat so fraternally near. But 

 little amenities of that kind left the philosophic 

 Jacky quite unruffled. A veritable Elisha in point 

 of determination, he was flitting serenely along after 

 his ungracious companion when I lost sight of both. 



A curiously distant bird altogether is the Restless 

 Flycatcher. Unlike its double, the familiar Willy- 

 Wagtail, it suggests but little, if any, of the human 

 quality one subconsciously looks for in the voice of 

 a bird, and it is not easy to get on "speaking" terms 

 with either the spanking male or buff -tinged female. 

 Only once have I succeeded in calling a "Scissors- 

 Grinder" into conclave, and then it was purely 

 curiosity at the gathering of other birds that per- 

 suaded the lady to stay awhile. On one other occa- 

 sion, however, a male bird unwittingly gave me a 



B 



