VAGARIES OF IRRIGATION . 245 



usually followed by a trill, and was far more 

 effective than his state performances. Some- 

 times, after the " sweet " repeated half a dozen 

 times, each note lower than the preceding one, 

 he ended with a sort of purr of contentment. 



I became so absorbed in listening that I had 

 almost forgotten the object of my search, but I 

 was suddenly recalled by a loud voice at one 

 side, and the lively genius of the place was on 

 hand in his usual role. Indeed, he rather sur- 

 passed himself in mocking and taunting cries 

 that morning, either because he wished, as my 

 host, to entertain me, or, what was more prob- 

 able, to reproach me for disturbing the serenity 

 of his life. Whatever might have been his mo- 

 tive, he delighted me, as always, by the spirit 

 and vigor with which he poured out his chacks 

 and whistles and rattles and calls. Then I tried 

 to locate him by following up the sound, picking 

 my way through the bushes, and among the strag- 

 gling arms of the irrigating stream. After some 

 experiments, I discovered that he was most con- 

 cerned when I came near an impenetrable tangle 

 that skirted the lower end of the lot. I say 

 "near:" it was near "as the crow flies," but 

 for one without wings it may have been half a 

 mile ; for between me and that spot was a great 

 gulf fixed, the rallying point of the most erratic 

 of wandering streamlets, and so given over to its 



