GLIMPSES OK WILD LIFE 1<J1 



bob-tailed ])ir(l with lier arts and licr secrets, 

 and the male with his song, and yet the pail- 

 gave a touch of something to those days and to 

 that place which I would nut willingly have 

 missed. 



I have spoken of nature as a stage whereon 

 the play, more or less interrupted and indirect, 

 constantly goes on. One amusing actor upon 

 that stage one season, upon my own premises, 

 was a certain male bluebird. To the spectator- 

 it was a comedy, but to the actor himself I im- 

 agine it was quite serious Inisiness. The bird 

 and his mate had a nest in a box upon an out- 

 house. In this outhouse was a whidow with 

 one pane broken out. At almost any hour in 

 the day from spring to early summer, the male 

 bird could be seen fluttering and pecking against 

 this window from the outside. Did he want to 

 get within ? Apparently so, and yet he would 

 now and then pause in his demonstrations, 

 alight in the frame of the broken pane, look in- 

 tently within, and after a moment resume his 

 assault upon the window. The people who saw 

 the actions of the bird were at a loss how to 

 interpret them. But I could see at once what 

 was the matter. The bird saw its image in the 

 mirror of the glass (the dark interior helped the 

 reflection) and was making war as he su])posed 

 upon a rival. Only the unyielding glass kept 

 him from tweaking out every saucy blue feather 

 upon the spot! Then he would pi-ep in through 

 the vacant pane and try to determine where his 

 rival had so suddenly disappeared. How it 



