A FEATHERED VENTRILOQUIST. 101 



alighted on the limb of a maple not ten feet 

 from me, and uttered twice in succession a mer- 

 ry little chuckling warble. One could readily 

 recognize the robin's characteristic note but in 

 a very subdued tone. The bill did not open else 

 the worm would have dropped but I could 

 plainly see the movements of the muscles of the 

 throat. That robin was a true ventriloquist. 

 Why it tried to sing or tell a tale at that time 

 I know not. Its nest was in the back of a yard 

 across the street and no other bird was near. 

 Perhaps it had passed a successful day and was 

 gloating to itself that one more worm was to its 

 credit. 



While sitting here a wood pewee, a blue jay, 

 two yellow-billed cuckoos and a little flock of 

 chickadees have sauntered by on the wing, stop- 

 ping wherever fancy suggested or the sight of 

 a food morsel attracted. All uttered some low 

 chuckling note of satisfaction or content. A 

 zebra or checkered woodpecker 40 alighted in the 

 mulberry tree, ate half a dozen berries, then 

 flew to a near-by butternut, up and down the 

 gray bark of whose bole he hopped and played 

 hide and seek with a sociable downy. One of 

 the cuckoos with a worm in its bill alighted on 

 a twig twelve feet away, then instantly seeing 

 me flew a couple of rods farther and swallowed 

 its prey. I was motionless, but there is a differ- 



Melanerp s c rol na L. 



