38 BIRD WOOING. 



perched on the peak of a low roof (separated 

 only by a carriage drive from the upper "gal- 

 lery " where I sat), and sang for hours at a 

 time, with occasional lunches; or, as Lanier, 

 his most ardent lover, has it, 



" Then down he shot, bounced airily along 

 The sward, twitched in a grasshopper, made song 

 Midflight, perched, prinked, and to his art again." 



Whatever he did, his eyes were upon me; he 

 came to the corner nearest me to sing, and was 

 so intelligent in look and bearing that I believe 

 he liked a quiet listener. 



His wooing, however, the bird did not intend 

 me to see, though two or three times I surprised 

 him at it. The first part that I chanced upon 

 was curious and amusing. A female, probably 

 the "beloved object," stood demurely on one 

 of the dead top branches of a large tree down 

 in the garden, while her admirer performed 

 fantastic evolutions in the air about her. No 

 flycatcher ever made half the eccentric move- 

 ments this aerial acrobat indulged in. He flew 

 straight up very high, executing various extraor- 

 dinary turns and gyrations, so rapidly they 

 could not be followed and described, and came 

 back singing ; in a moment he departed in an- 

 other direction, and repeated the grotesque 

 performance. He was plainly exerting himself 

 to be agreeable and entertaining, in mocking- 



