82 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 
Creeping close to the spot already carefully located, the rock soon 
gleamed in the full light of my bull’s-eye; but it was only after 
several minutes of the closest scrutiny that the form of the bird 
gradually assumed shape mysterious and sphinx-like as she brood- 
ed her downy fledglings. Can I ever forget these soft, deep, 
round black eyes, motionlessly staring into the glare now held 
close before her face? I had come to lay hands upon her, but 
now with her form within easy reach, and my hand in eager 
spread, I was vanquished. 
For a period, I know not how long, I crouched in the shadow 
of my lantern, my face barely two feet from the statuesque form 
of this strange bird; and although intent on her capture, yet in 
the soft, unwinking, all-observing stare of those great mild eyes, 
I confess to a mesmeric charm that stayed my eager hand. At 
last, in a momentary triumph of prosaic scientific fervor, I made 
a clutch for my prize—but presto! my open fingers only arched 
above an empty void which soon disclosed the two downy sleep- 
ing sphinxlets manifest only by touch. The parent bird had 
seemingly spirited herself into air, and in the mood of the mo- 
ment such seemed the fitting denouement. 
Only by feeling could the two chicks be found. The light of 
the lantern failed to locate them even then, except by the shad- 
ows which they cast. Though apparently asleep, they were, in 
truth, keenly awake, for after the lapse of a minute or so they 
were up and on their feet, pursuing the same acts as at mid-day, 
running off into the grass with surprising agility for two babes 
rudely awakened from the cradle, uttering the familiar plaintive 
peep which, with the fleeting shadows accompanying them, af- 
forded the only means of following their imperceptible identity. 
Foreseeing the danger both to mother and young from a too 
eager clutch, and having little confidence in my alertness against 
such odds of vision and hocus pocus, I returned home, and af- 
ter allowing the bird ample time to get herself together again, 
I revisited the scene, provided with a butterfly net. Again steal- 
ing upon the bird as before, and without permitting myself to 
be brought beneath her spell, I lost no time in clapping the net 
