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 7 



long performance is finished, a ii7 - Arkansas Kingbird. 

 lovely gold en butterfly flutters by, Bf "J££!ffl, wilh " greal slum 

 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, — 



