64 THE Birps Asout US. 
seeing, and leave untravelled all the tree-tops save 
the very few that surround the little spot they have 
chosen for a home. The coming is abrupt; and even 
if it be true that their mates come later,—that is, the 
males are always in advance,—they do not wait in 
silence until they are moved by the arrival of part- 
ners, but commence that strange series of cries that 
are so remarkable. If the females follow, they are 
either aware of where their mates are, or accept the 
very first bachelor they meet. For years I have been 
familiar with the movements of these birds, and I 
have never seen anything suggestive of courtship. 
But once mated and their married life is one long 
series of ecstatic demonstration. The climax of the 
bird’s eccentricity is while the female is sitting, when 
he rises to a height of several feet above the nest 
and, with fluttering wings and dangling legs, sings a 
strange and never a melodious medley. These 
strange sounds are imitative of every distressing and 
harsh sound the bird has ever heard, and what adds 
to the weirdness of it all, it is often ventriloquially 
expressed. The bird has this power, and is aware of 
its value in deceiving any intruder. I have experi- 
mented too often with dozens of these birds not to be 
