262 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



impressions. They are all I have. Most of the 

 scissor-tail's tricks and manners, indeed, I have 

 yet to witness. I have not seen him chase a crow, 

 for instance, or a raven (he would have to travel 

 a hundred miles, I suspect, to find either the one 

 or the other), but give him half a chance, and I 

 am sure he would do it. One thing I have seen 

 him do : I have seen him fly before an English 

 sparrow. The action seemed unworthy of him, 

 but I dare say he did not so regard it. Perhaps 

 it was all a joke. But apparently no bird con- 

 siders it a disgrace to be put to rout by a smaller 

 one. The shameful thing is to be afraid of one 

 that is larger than yourself. This is not the 

 human way of looking at such matters ; but 

 perhaps that does not prove it a false way. I 

 seem to see that much might be said in defense 

 of it. 



It is surprising how common the scissor-tail is, 

 and more surprising yet that nobody seems to 

 notice him. I should have thought that all the 

 passers-by would be stopping to stare at so half- 

 absurd a prodigy. But when he performs his 

 craziest evolutions here in the Alamo Plaza, in the 

 very heart of the city, nobody appears to mind 

 him. The truth is that to these people — to most 

 of them, at least — he is an old story, while to 

 me he is like a bird invented last week. Wher- 



