I08 WOOD NOTES AND NEST HUNTING. 



the " Maltese " color withal has a strange, uncanny- 

 semblance to the felines, and you almost expect to 

 hear the peculiar hiss whenever they are disturbed ; 

 dispositions differ, however, in individuals. I have 

 startled from her nest a female that remained 

 unusually quiet ; even as I put my face within a 

 foot of her beautiful emeralds she only looks at me 

 solicitously from a neighboring bush. Curiously 

 enough her husband is like her. Perhaps this is 

 an experienced pair, that have had many adven- 

 tures with heartless oologists and wood-faring boys, 

 and thus realize the utter uselessness of making a 

 bustle over the affair. 



An interesting exhibition of a swarm of gnats, 

 just out of their pupal state, playing up and down 

 over a particular stone in the wall like jets of water 

 in a small fountain — dispersing instantly as I 

 strike my hands together in their midst, and reap- 

 pearing over the same stone, again to commence 

 their sport — has engaged my attention, and fur- 

 nished a side-entertainment, so to speak, untU a 

 bird-note to which I had never before listened 

 reaches my ear. At first it is heard at a distance, 

 but, as the singer approaches, the strain is rich 

 and clear, and I become absorbed in the melody. 

 Presently a bird flies 'from the copse yonder to a 



