BOB WHITE. 15 



And what delightful anticipation when the ten- 

 der Cloi-ee ee, cloi-ee ee, cloi-ee ee came in 

 plaintive tones from where the witch-hazel was 

 putting forth its long golden petals, and another 

 answered from where the red berries of the 

 wintergreen were still shining among its ever- 

 green leaves ; and another chimed in where the 

 scarlet arils of the bittersweet were blazing in 

 the tangled brake, and from the bunch of briers 

 almost beside you and the clumps of whitening 

 grass in front came from another, another, and 

 another little throat the same sweet note ! 



How close they lay, and what short flights 

 they made, before persecution changed the habits 

 of these charming birds! Yet even then how 

 hard to get ! Do you remember, when the dog 

 stood over a clump of dead grass with nose 

 almost perpendicular, how often you had to kick 

 in it before anything would move? And when 

 out it came, and the dog made a vain snap at its 

 tail, and it curled over your head and vanished 

 among the dense green of the cat-brier before 

 you could turn around, and curiosity and re- 

 proach were mingled in the deep dark eye the 

 dear old dog turned for a moment upon you, 



