AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 113 



biers soon made the fact evident, and he left, swiftly, silently as he 

 had come. And with his departure came relief to the Warblers, and to 

 me. The sun had set. It was becoming dusky. The many sounds 

 and voices of the day were becoming fewer and more subdued — the 

 world was going to sleep. From over the hills came the low, far-away 

 but distinct "Hoo-o, hoo, hoo," of the great horned owl. Our day was 

 done, we must retire and make room for him. Next day I visited the 

 clump of dogwoods. As I entered I glanced up and there, just above 

 my head as I had known it would be, was the little woolly nest, fasten- 

 ed firmly in a crotch. Drawing myself up, I could look down into the 

 little home. Inside were five little eggs, white, speckled with- brown. 



:|: 5}: >|; ^ ^ 



Glancing down across the bleak fields into the valley, I saw, skim- 

 ming along just above the little stream, following its every crook and 

 turn, a flock of wild ducks. Suddenly, as if by one accord they all 

 dropped down between the banks of the stream. Hastily but cautious- 

 ly going down the hill road, I reached the bridge, and crept in under a 

 clump of leafless dogwoods. The ducks, a band of five Greenwing 

 Teal, came on down passing me and going out of sight around a bend 

 below. As they moved along they probed in the mud with their bills, 

 or strained the cold water through them as only a duck can. They 

 passed within a few feet of me and never suspected my presence. 

 After they had gone, I rose from my cramped position, and as I did so, 

 spied just above my head a little wooly, weather-beaten nest. Drawing 

 myself up I glanced in. It was empty, save for a single tiny faded 

 yellow feather. Carefully I cut away the bough that supported it and 

 brought it home. And sitting with it before me, I dream of the time 

 when the joyous little cries, "Sweet, sweet, sweet, oh how sweet." 

 coming through my open window on the perfumed air of an early May 

 morning, shall once again waken me to the world and to the joy of 



living. 



Edgar Boyer. 



