WINGED ROBBERS AND NEST-BUILDERS. 1 47 



would be very effective to his listeners did they 

 not know what a consummate knave he is. 



During the recital of these sweet sounds no 

 one with an eye to the charms of graceful move- 

 ment would gaze upon him, for in his most 

 pathetic parts he performs such painful, awkward, 

 clownish contortions as to detract at once from 

 the pleasure received through the sense of hearing 

 and leads you to the belief that all he utters is 

 mere cant. 



The robins and cat-birds know him " to the very 

 heart of loss," and take every opportunity to break 

 in upon his sweet beguiling discourse with beak 

 and claw. Sometimes a dozen male red-breasts 

 will organize a raiding party to hustle him from 

 his rostrum, diving at him furiously and plying 

 with their bills such heavy strokes that he is 

 forced to fly down and oat, shamefully seeking 

 some safer covert, and never resenting the abuse 

 that is put upon him. 



If one loves to watch a bird of graceful flight, 

 he should betake him to the mouth of some large 

 salt-water river, or to the ocean's shore where the 

 searguUs float to and fro over the waves, or drift 

 like foam before the wind. Here, too, he will 

 surely find that magnificent falcon of the seas, the 



