198 Bird- Lore 



I experimented. When I walked in one direction, the cries of the birds 

 became louder; when I walked in another, they were less agitated. I guided 

 my actions accordingly, and soon the pair were hovering threateningly over 

 my head and darting at me fiercely with open mouths, the little brown wife 

 being the bolder of the two in the attack, and actually brushing my hat in 

 her self 'forgetting courage. 



A chirp at my feet, and a little brown bunch rustled through the brown 

 grass for two or three feet and — disappeared ! I knew that it was somewhere 

 within a given area of two feet square, but I could not see it, and I actually 

 found it first by the sense of touch ; moreover, when my hand rested upon it 

 the bird neither stirred nor made a sound, — so early had he learned to 

 almost completely obliterate himself in case of danger. The little one was 

 an exact counterpart of the mother in coloring, — and she was an exact 

 counterpart in coloring of the brown reeds and grasses. 



The excitement of the parent birds was really pitiable, so after a good 

 look at my captive, which lay quiet in my hand with no sign of fear, except 

 his hurried heartbeats and the glance of his scared wild eye, I let him go, 

 and away he rustled out of sight. 



Then I sat me down on a knoll at a distance to see if there would be a 

 family reunion. It took more than a half-hour to assure the parents that I 

 meant no further mischief. Then came a pretty scene. The mother flew 

 ofi down the stream a few rods and alighted, keeping a sharp eye on me. 

 Then she began a series of calls, low, reassuring, with a rest now and then, 

 apparently waiting for a reply. After a time a faint answer came from the 

 grass up stream, and as the call and answer went on one could tell that 

 the youngster was slowly making his way through the concealing grass to 

 his mother. I was watching the pretty play with much interest, when my 

 attention was attracted by the doings of some big birds on the further side 

 of the stream. 



In one place on the slope stood a large tree, a chestnut, I think, and to 

 the south of it the bank was more abrupt in its descent. Many Blue Jays 

 had been flying about the tree with their usual busybody interest in every- 

 body's affairs. I had failed to distinguish among them a pair of birds not far 

 from the Blue Jays' size, and making, like them, a flash of blue through the 

 air, but unlike them in the shortness of the tail, the whiteness of the under 

 parts of the body, and the absence of the black collar. It was not until I 

 saw one of them with something in his bill disappear into a hole in the 

 upper part of the bank that I observed more closely and guessed that really 

 for an ignoramus I had made a discovery. By and by out came my bird, 

 perched himself on the fence, made some peculiar sounds (but that would 

 never have led me to deny his jayhood, for a Jay has an unrivaled repertoire 

 of sounds musical and otherwise), and then again flew away down stream. 



Once more I watched him come and go, and then I climbed the sandy 



