BY THE WAYS WE 
67 
catbird no longer sings so often, and 
1 even when he does, it is with a note of 
; hesitancy in his melody, expressive of 
,• doubt whether he is not committing 
• some indiscretion. There is a good rea¬ 
son for this silence. It will not be long 
t before the young are out, and then 
a 
they must be taken care of, there will 
be but little time for song and gavety. 
Because there seems to lie a cessation 
I of activity and perhaps also because 
the weather gets hot during the day, 
many people who are enthusiastic bird 
> students in spring cease their observa¬ 
tion for a longer or shorter period in 
summer. And still, this is a most fasci¬ 
nating time for study. To be sure, one 
does not see such a dazzling variety of 
forms as during the height of the mi¬ 
gration, but still, the number of birds 
which nest in even a rather restricted 
area in such a country as southern 
Wisconsin is not small. Moreover, the 
breeding time is very favorable to the 
bird lover. What an interesting life is 
it that centers in the nest of a pair of 
birds ! # Nor is it very difficult to wit¬ 
ness it, for, with patience and care on 
your part, most birds will soon become 
accustomed to you and will go on with 
their parental duties just as if you 
were not there. Indeed, so strong is 
the instinct to care for the young in 
birds that many lose all consideration 
for self during the period from hatch¬ 
ing to the point when the immature are 
capable of caring for themselves. 
We want to urge our readers to see 
for themselves whether or not the sum¬ 
mer is not fully as interesting as any 
other season. We are sure that once 
they learn, if they do not already know 
it, what pleasure there is to be had 
from an outing at the close of a sum¬ 
mer's day, they will not find July and 
August quite so disagreeable as they 
are sometimes inclined to believe. 
A few mornings ago (April 20) 
while eating my breakfast, 1 saw a 
bird which alighted in a neighboring 
yard. At. first I thought it was a pig¬ 
eon but when it moved I saw it was 
some strange bird unlike any near 
here. I left my breakfast and ran as 
fast as I could to the yard and to my 
surprise and joy the bird was still 
there, but when I approached it, it 
walked under the end of a building 
which was supported by blocks. 
I kept running after the bird till I 
had it cornered in an ell of the house 
and there I caught it but I had a hard 
time holding it, for it fought savagely 
with its beak and claws. 
Being very much interested to find 
what kind of bird I had caught, I car¬ 
ried it to school with me and found it 
to be a Coot. I kept it in a box for 
a day or two, where it became quite 
tame. I then send it to the country 
and gave it its freedom. 
Andrew M. Dudley. 
