8 2 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 



Creeping close to the spot already carefully located, the rock soon 

 gleamed in the full light of my bull's-eye; but it was only after 

 several minutes of the closest scrutiny that the form of the bird 

 gradually assumed shape mysterious and sphinx-like as she brood- 

 ed her downy fledglings. Can I ever forget these soft, deep, 

 round black eyes, motionlessly staring into the glare now held 

 close before her face? I had come to lay hands upon her, but 

 now with her form within easy reach, and my hand in eager 

 spread, I was vanquished. 



For a period, I know not how long, I crouched in the shadow 

 of my lantern, my face barely two feet from the statuesque form 

 of this strange bird ; and although intent on her capture, yet in 

 the soft, unwinking, all-observing stare of those great mild eyes, 

 I confess to a mesmeric charm that stayed my eager hand. At 

 last, in a momentary triumph of prosaic scientific fervor, I made 

 a clutch for my prize but presto! my open fingers only arched 

 above an empty void which soon disclosed the tw*o downy sleep- 

 ing sphinxlets manifest only by touch. The parent bird had 

 seemingly spirited herself into air, and in the mood of the mo- 

 ment such seemed the fitting denouement. 



Only by feeling could the two chicks be found. The light of 

 the lantern failed to locate them even then, except by the shad- 

 ows which they cast. Though apparently asleep, they were, in 

 truth, keenly awake, for after the lapse of a minute or so they 

 were up and on their feet, pursuing the same acts as at mid-day, 

 running off into the grass with surprising agility for two babes 

 rudely awakened from the cradle, uttering the familiar plaintive 

 peep which, with the fleeting shadows accompanying them, af- 

 forded the only means of following their imperceptible identity. 

 Foreseeing the danger both to mother and young from a too 

 eager clutch, and having little confidence in my alertness against 

 such odds of vision and hocus pocus, I returned home, and af- 

 ter allowing the bird ample time to get herself together again, 

 I revisited the scene, provided with a butterfly net. Again steal- 

 ing upon the bird as before, and without permitting myself to 

 be brought beneath her spell, I lost no time in clapping the net 



