and the way she flew would make one think 

 that she did not know the use of her wings. 

 But what a circus flier she is at night ! and with 

 what an uncanny noise she haunts the twilight ! 

 She has made more hair stand on end, with 

 her earthward plunge and its unearthly boom 

 through the dusk, than all the owls together. It 

 is a ghostly joke. And who would believe in 

 the daylight that this limp, ragged lump, dozing 

 upon the fence or the kitchen roof, could play 

 the spook so cleverly in the dark ? 



Ill 



On the 25th of April, before the trees were in 

 leaf, I heard the first true wood-note of the 

 spring. It came from the tall oaks beyond the 

 garden. "CTear, clear, clear up!^' it rang, pure, 

 untamed, and quickening. The solitary vireo ! 

 It was his whistle, inimitable, unmistakable ; and 

 though I had not seen him since last July, I hur- 

 ried out to the woods, sure he would greet me. 



Solitary is the largest, rarest, tamest, and 

 sweetest- voiced of the vireos. I soon found him 

 high in the tops of the trees ; but I wanted him 

 [155] 



