BIRD PARADISE 265 



parson at least once daily. He comes into my 

 lawn house unannounced, but all the same largely 

 welcome. I rarely see him in company with any 

 other bird, no, not even with one of his own 

 species. What a faultlessly neat suit of clothes 

 he wears, and how surprisingly spotless he keeps 

 them, wearing them as he does night and day for 

 more than half the year. Both the tailor and the 

 laundress of this bird are adepts in their respective 

 vocations. Occasionally he speaks a single word 

 — an utterance that seems to fall from his tongue 

 entirely unstudied. If he means anything by the 

 effort I have not been able to divine what it is. 

 His different positions at the table where he feasts 

 so extensively box the compass completely every 

 three minutes. If he captures the game he pur- 

 sues, the particular angle of the bodily presence 

 is a thing oblivious to his consciousness. All 

 winter long this bird, or others like him, will look 

 in upon my small domain nearly every day, bring- 

 ing with them their own special life and cheer. 

 They must know that their welcome is as large as 

 I can make it. 



The school children discovered a little screech- 

 owl in the church sheds. In the olden days the 



