IDYLLS OF BIRD LIFE 
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About a month subsequent to the foregoing episode, ! paid 
another visit to this interesting bird family. I found that the 
young had grown wonderfully during that time and were now 
so nearly their full size that it was difficult to distinguish them 
from the adult birds. They could now easily provide for them- 
selves, but at the least approach of danger they would scamper 
to places of safety in the same manner as when they were downy 
chicks. If one remained very quietly in his place of vantage 
where he could not be seen, he was rewarded by hearing the 
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faint but pathetic “Loi! loi! loi!” as the mother called her brood 
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to her and endeavored to gather them under her protecting 
wings. These were, however, quite unequal to the occasion 
since her family had grown so large. 
The Summer davs passed and the birds were now full 
— 
grown. From out of the meadows and the stubble came the 
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whistle, “Bob White! ah, Bob White!” clear and distinct as in 
the early days of Spring, for the young were now fully grown 
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and just as sure on their wings as their parents. One clear, 
frosty morning in early November, I accidentally discovered 
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the bevy, huddled together in a protecting covert, evidently 
not having yet stirred about for their morning meal. It is not 
often that one is enabled to approach a bevy like this, but for 
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