" There she stood in the 

 snow with head high, 

 listening anxiously." T I I / 



climbing the fence into the pasture, 



I had started a rabbit, and was creep- 



ing up behind a low cedar, when a quail, 



very near me, whistled softly, Whirl-ee! The 

 cedar was between us. Whirl-ee, whirl-ee-gig ! 

 she whistled again. 



It was the sweetest bird-note I ever heard, 

 being so low, so liquid, so mellow that I almost 

 doubted if Bob White could make it. But there 

 she stood in the snow with head high, listening 

 anxiously. Again she whistled, louder this time ; 

 and from the woods below came a faint answer- 

 ing call : White ! The answer seemed to break 

 a spell ; and on three sides of me sounded 

 other calls. At this the little signaler repeated 

 her efforts, and each time the answers came 

 louder and nearer. Presently something dark 

 hurried by me over the snow and joined the 



[15] 



