114 AT THE NORTH OF BE ARC AMP WATER. 
own species who offered such a contrast to the 
purity of nature. 
From eleven until one o’clock there was almost 
unbroken stillness near the great tree. Now 
and then some one of the regular residents of 
the meadow spoke, a dragonfly buzzed past, a 
small pickerel stirred in the brook, or a frog 
said u wurro , wurrouh ,” and splashed in the still 
water among the reeds. The kingbirds broke 
the monotony by coming, three strong, with 
much noise and fluttering to take possession of 
the tree. One of them flew to the sand by the 
lake ripples and drank. Then all three came 
upon the lowest branches of the big tree and 
looked at the dark pool below. One flew 
obliquely against the water, striking it and 
dashing a thousand bright drops into the air. 
He rose chattering and returned to his perch, 
shaking himself. I thought he had aimed for a 
fly and struck the water unintentionally, but 
down he went again, making even more of a 
splash than before, and presently both the oth¬ 
ers followed his example at such frequent inter¬ 
vals that the pool had no time to smooth its 
ripples. This odd kind of bathing was contin¬ 
ued for ten minutes, during which time a cat¬ 
bird sneaked down upon the sand and watched 
the process silently but with evident interest. 
Later he saw me sitting motionless under the 
