134 i^ BIRD LAND. 



you in his staid, philosophical way, as if you were 

 scarcely worth noticing. Nor will he hush his song 

 at your approach, although he does not seem to 

 care whether you listen to him or not. It is 

 seldom that he can be betrayed into doing an 

 undignified act ; and even if he does almost turn a 

 somersault in pursuing a refractory miller, he re- 

 covers his poise the next moment, and settles upon 

 his perch with as much sang froid as if nothing 

 unusual had occurred. Altogether, the wood-pewee 

 is what Bradford Torrey would call a " character in 

 feathers." 



