SEPTEMBER. 233 



had left the nest I twice stroked the parent bird without 

 her taking flight. Never, I venture to say, a nesting bird in 

 the Brush Creek Valley would prove so trustful. Nature 

 there is more evenly balanced, and every bird that tarries 

 has a veritable struggle for its existence. Certainly those 

 that nested in the more open shrubbery (and they were 

 many) must have been ever on the alert. Indeed, I came 

 to look upon every empty nest as necessarily the scene of 

 a tragedy, yet in truth the great majority had escaped 

 molestation. 



But this cunning had its ludicrous phases ; at least I 

 was daily entertained by the quick wits of the kill-deer 

 plover. During September these birds were phenomenally 

 abundant. Even throughout the night they passed over 

 my tent incessantly, often at a great elevation. Aroused 

 at times by the hooting of the great horned owls, I have 

 caught the faint dee-dee of a wandering plover, falling as 

 softly as the whisper of a star, and then, as the bird 

 swooped earthward, the shrill kill-deer ! kill-deer ! rang 

 out with startling distinctness on the still night air. 

 They gloried in the glimmer of the harvest-moon as I 

 never before had known birds to do ; but where were they 

 at high noon? I missed them for a long time, and 

 learned at last that they were skulking, often in silence, 

 upon the plowed fields. I often tried to approach, but 

 found it impracticable. Long before I was within a rea- 

 sonable distance I was discovered, and away they flew. I 

 tried stalking, but this proved of no avail; they knew 

 they were being pursued, and posted sentinels wherever 

 they were. Think for a moment what an elaborate men- 

 tal effort this implies ! These birds devised an intricate 

 plan to insure, not individual safety, but that of their lit- 

 tle community. Their actions showed that they not only 

 planned, but jointly planned ; and therefore, be it lan- 

 guage or something else, they had a means of conveying 



