172 THE COMICAL CHEBEC 



blue the blue jays ; and from another on 

 the southern shore of Long Island I learned, 

 by the daily study of weeks, something of 

 the true character of that reserved person- 

 age, the kingbird. 



From a third window I got insight into 

 the ways of a still more reserved neighbor 

 the cuckoo, the " often heard when unseen " : 

 his graceful, loitering flight, though he can 

 go like an arrow, and his quiet way, when 

 disturbed, of slipping through a tree, instead 

 of going around or over, and taking wing 

 from the other side, in perfect silence. 



Some exceedingly interesting observations 

 were made from a window looking simply 

 into a neglected corner of a fence, a bit of 

 common yard grown up to grass and daisies, 

 and carefully protected from the all-destroy- 

 ing scythe. A fence overgrown with rasp- 

 berry-bushes separated it from a pasture on 

 one side, a clump of trees sheltered a spring 

 at the bottom, and the woods came up to the 

 back. 



Here, unsuspected behind my closed blinds, 

 I surprised charming secrets of bird-life 

 which have been described elsewhere : the 



