MAY 



Who has seen the partridge drum? It is the 

 next thing to catching a weasel asleep, though by 

 much caution and tact it may be done. He does 

 not hug the log, but stands very erect, expands 

 his ruff, gives two introductory blows, pauses half 

 a second, and then resumes, striking faster and 

 faster till the sound becomes a continuous, un- 

 broken whir, the whole lasting less than half a 

 minute. The tips of his wings barely brush the 

 log, so that the sound is produced rather by the 

 force of the blows upon the air and upon his own 

 body as in flying. 



BURROUGHS : Wake-Robin. 



6 



Coming to a drier and less mossy place in the 

 woods, I am amused with the golden - crowned 

 thrush, which, however, is no thrush at all, but 

 a warbler. He walks on the ground ahead of me 

 with such an easy gliding motion, and with such 

 an unconscious, preoccupied air, jerking his head 

 like a hen or a partridge, now hurrying, now 

 slackening his pace, that I pause to observe him. 

 I sit down, he pauses to observe me, and extends 

 his pretty ramblings on all sides, apparently very 

 much engrossed with his own affairs, but never 

 losing sight of me. But few of the birds are 

 walkers, most being hoppers, like the robin. 



BURROUGHS: Wake-Robin. 



