26 A WOODLAND INTIMATE. 



found a number of nests, also, but till this 

 year had never observed any marked pecu- 

 liarity of the birds as to timidity or fear- 

 lessness. Nor do I now imagine that any 

 such strong race peculiarity exists. What 

 I am to describe I suppose to be nothing 

 more than an accidental and unaccount- 

 able idiosyncrasy of the particular bird in 

 question. Such freaks of temperament are 

 more or less familiar to all field natural- 

 ists, and may be taken as extreme develop- 

 ments of that individuality which seems to 

 be the birthright of every living creature, 

 no matter how humble. At this very mo- 

 ment I recall a white - throated sparrow, 

 overtaken some years ago in an unfre- 

 quented road, whose tameness was entirely 

 unusual, and, indeed, little short of ridicu- 

 lous. 



Three or four days after the walk just 

 now mentioned I was again in the same 

 wood, and went past the vireos' nest, pay- 

 ing no attention to it beyond noting that 

 one of the birds, presumed to be the female, 

 was on duty. But the next morning, as I 

 saw her again, it occurred to me to make 

 an experiment. So, quitting the path sud- 



