IDYLLS OF BIRD LIFE 
rival males. They would come at each other with the fury of 
game cocks, fighting desperately, pecking and striking at each 
other as if their lives depended upon the issue, and, indeed it 
i 
did, for in that fight the love of a sweetheart was involved. All 
V 
this while the object of their attentions, the little brown de¬ 
mure Miss Bob White, was perched on a stump nearby, viewing 
! 
with^vident satisfaction the battle, which was staged on her 
) ,V I, 7 ° 
I'HI. 
account. Finally, the vanquished bird, thoroughly beaten, 
slowly retreated; and, with an envious eye watched from a dis¬ 
tance the proud victor strutting about before his queen; she, 
/ & , 
by a seeming indifference, concealed her admiration for her 
hf 
hero,- The attitude of the female bird only added to his anger. 
!-A a \, :-j D 
ng the disgruntled rival, the conqueror sent him into igno¬ 
minious flight by a few well directed blows. 
/ 
A few weeks after this episode I re-visited the locality, 
which was only a short distance from town, intent upon finding 
i 4°^ i 
Gx 
my newly-acquired Bob White friends. To my delight, I dis- 
\ s '—* OA} 
covered both birds busily engaged in collecting grasses, leave 
6 ' ' > ^ C- "'r, , ( JL 
and mosses for a large, clumsy nest, that w r as being made on the 
old worm-eaten rail fences. It was a perfect place for coii- 
‘ il \ ' 
cealment; blackberry bushes concealed it from the hungrv eyes 
of passing hawks, and the depredations of mischievous bovs. 
*m. i«i 
Ws 
*1 
