BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 63 



when hunger is satisfied, and the sun shines pleas- 

 antly as he reposes on the dry leaves on the 

 ground or sits aloft on a branch, at times a sud- 

 den feeling of gladness possesses him, and he 

 expresses it in that one way — the long, wild, 

 ringing peal of laughter. Listening to that 

 strange sound, although I could not see I could 

 yet picture him, as, aware of my cautious ap- 

 proach, he moved shyly behind the mossy trunk 

 of some tree and waited silently for me to pass. 

 A lean, grey little man, clad in a quaintly barred 

 and mottled mantle, woven by his own hands 

 from some soft silky material, and a close-fitting 

 brown peaked cap on his head with one barred 

 feather in it for ornament, and a small wizened 

 grey face with a thin sharp nose, puckered lips, 

 and a pair of round, brilliant, startled eyes. 



So distinct was this image to my mind's eye 

 that it became unnecessary for me to see the 

 creature, and I ceased to look for him; then all 

 at once came disillusion, when one day, hearing 

 the familiar high-pitched laUgh with its pene- 

 trating and somewhat nasal tone, I looked and 

 beheld the thing that had laughed just leaving its 

 perch on a branch near the ground and winging 



