DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED 319 



chimney swift, with the cry of a kitten. Far into the 

 night you may hear a soloist, but the chorus is silent 

 after the sun has set. With the earliest peep of dawn 

 they are astir again, down to the water for a bath ; and 

 such a splatter ! Half a dozen in a place like urchins 

 in a swimming pool, and each one trying to make the 

 greatest splashing ! Heads down, tails up ! Heads up, 

 tails down ! Twisting 

 and wriggling, until every 

 little feather stands for 

 itself and the bare skin 

 is plainly visible between 

 them. A shake, a shower 

 of pearly drops flashing 

 in the sunlight, and a 

 very porcupine-like little bird flies 

 up to a sunny perch to preen and 

 shake and preen again. Before his 

 long performance is finished, a ^^'- Aukansas Kingbikd. 

 lovely golden butterfly flutters by, „/aZ1^f' "'* ° '"""" "^ 

 and, regardless of wet wings, out 



dashes the hungry little bird after him. Ten to one he 

 gets him, comes back to the perch to breakfast, and 

 flies down to a weed stalk below to hunt for crickets or 

 grasshoppers. After his appetite is appeased he is ready 

 for a scrimmage, and very shortly you may see him tum- 

 bling about in midair, the pursued or pursuer of half a 

 dozen of his kind in mock combat. 



As soon as the demure gray dames arrive from the 

 South, a change comes over the spirit of the bachelor, — 



