THE CITY OF THE BIRDS. 79 



entirely new to me. That this spitting, hissing 

 sound, as an expression of contempt or rage, 

 should be resorted to by all animals, from the 

 low reptiles to even man himself, is something 

 curious. 



Have not the birds, generation after generation, 

 gradually acquired much of their cleverness of 

 invention and knowledge of the world, we may 

 say, through the training of many centuries } 

 Their skill in hiding their nests, their assumption 

 of the character of crippled birds whenever they 

 are approached, and their different methods of dis- 

 sembling, seem to indicate a pretty good under- 

 standing of the over-curious, inquiring human. 

 The other day I came upon two clear cases of 

 bird trickery ! The performers were the females 

 of the indigo bird and the bobolink. The former, 

 as I regarded her, lighted in full view on a bush, 

 and began suddenly to whisk her fulvous tail and 

 turn her body this way and that, with that quick, 

 alert motion which only birds are capable of. 

 She canted her head and looked at me. Alto- 

 gether it was a double-faced proceeding, but very 

 amusing, and pardonable under the circumstances. 

 After beating about the bush in this manner for a 

 while, she began another little piece of acting, by 

 pretending to watch for a favorable opportunity to 

 dive into another thick shrub, which, with strict 

 attention to all the details of the action of a shy 



