262 
NATURE’S CRAFTSMEN 
their mother should pay more attention to them 
and less to the general affairs of the neighbor¬ 
hood. 
“ Just as the catbirds and kingbirds are the 
bird policemen of the garden and orchard, so, too, 
the yellow-breasted chat keeps watch over the 
thickets of woodland and pasture. He is also a 
clown, and a fine ventriloquist in the bargain. 
He can do all sorts of stunts. Listen to what a 
poet bird-lover says of him: 
“ Aloft in sunny air he springs; 
To his timid mate he calls; 
With dangling legs and fluttering wings, 
On the tangled smilax falls; 
He mutters, he shrieks— 
A hopeless cry; 
iYou think that he seeks 
In peace to die; 
But pity him not; ’tis the ghostly chat, 
An imp, if there is one, rest sure of that. 
—Abbott. 
* 
“ Burroughs tells us that he can bark like a 
puppy, quack like a duck, rattle like a kingfisher, 
squall like a fox, caw like a crow, or mew like a 
cat. But why he goes through all this rigma¬ 
role is an unsolved question. Perhaps he seeks to 
entertain his brooding mate; again it may be that 
his own excessive energy drives him to these 
stunts to keep himself from boredom as He patrols 
his usually quiet beat. In one of his principal 
