NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
his heart in less rollicking melody> and in- 
terpret according to your fancy, but some- 
thing he will say to you in spite of yourself. 
One that I watched at nesting-time would 
pause in his most brilliant medley to warn 
his mate of my approach. She was brood- 
ing on the nest a hundred feet away in a 
thorn-bush, and he kept one eye on her and 
the other on me. ‘‘ Keep quiet, be quiet ! 
Some one ’s near ! Don’t move ! I ’ll 
watch ; I can see ! Look at me, look at 
me ! ” he would say in a ventriloquist’s 
undertone. Then bursting out again with 
a shower of music, he would make me for- 
get all else in listening to him. The nearer 
I approached the nest, the more enthusias- 
tic became his song, until when within a few 
feet of it the mother flew off and he became 
suddenly silent. A moment later he was 
close at my side, with pleading, pathetic 
notes that said as plainly as any speech from 
human lips, Go away, do ! Go away, 
do ! ” always with the same accent and the 
same pause after away ” for greater empha- 
226 
