110 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



was a humming and buzzing that announced the 

 presence of a ruby-throat. A closer inspection 

 of the sober habit of the author of the noise 

 revealed that the midget visitor was a female; 

 and as she hummed and hovered over a cluster 

 of big, bright thistles and glinted in the bright 

 sun as she flashed here and there, she showed 

 herself at her best. She prodded and stabbed 

 the big thistle blooms to the heart and darted up 

 up to an elm, only to return again; though we 

 watched very intently we could discover no 

 motive for her mission to the tree. That she had 

 not a nest we made sure, but though she stayed 

 with us a large part of the time we were in the 

 grove, we learned little about her. 



Several kingbirds, a catbird, a thrasher, and 

 several yellow warblers visited us, and how well 

 and truly each of them revealed his nature! 

 The kingbirds, bold and blunt, perched upon the 

 topmost twigs overhead and smote down un- 

 wary insect prey that ventured near ; the catbird 

 and thrasher, timid and retiring, clung to the 

 shadows of the cherry and thorn thickets ; while 

 the warblers darted in the sunshine about the 

 outskirts of the shrubbery. Because we kept 

 very quiet and scarcely stirred at all, they did 



