would do for the Russet-backed, except that the latter is 
slightly larger and has the color of its back continued in 4 
its rump and tail, while his eye ous and ae colorings 
are a bit more tawny. 
- He is so well protected by his soft covering and becomes 
go much a part of his surroundings that unless he moves, 
he is often hidden from an observer, although but a few 
- feet away in the lower branches of the trees. There he will | : 
— often sit quietly watching a Daginer search for him every- 
where that he is not. | 
He is the earliest singer in the spring mornings and 4 
has, at times, seemed to play school, where, as teacher, he 
called the roll and other birds responded by their own tunes. 
Rusty Song Sparrow was usually the first to answer and 
- then came the Oregon Towhee, the Nuttall Sparrow, and | 
the Western Meadowlark to listen to the choir of thrushes 
which welcomed daybreak. - 
A Russet-backed Thrush was once led bo visit a Swing- 4 
ing bird table for bits of bread and seeds after weeks of 
coaxing. He had been seen many times behind a leafy 
curtain, watching the other birds as they ate, or bathing in 
the pool provided under the big log. His shy majesty was_ 
long true to his love of shadows, but one morning his — 
. appetite led him to make the attempt to get an easy break- 
fast. He poised i in air, upheld by fluttering wings a few feet 
from the table, several times before he dared to venture to 
_ place his brown feet on what might prove to be a trap. 
Then, his dignity forgotten, he bolted his food in regular 
Steller Jay fashion while the heart of a watcher thrilled with 
- happiness. 
A delightful experience was experienced once in J aie on. 
a trip to the Quillayute River in Washington. A consti- 
tutional weakness concerning early rising had made it 
necessary to persuade a room-mate, Lady Mary, as friends 
went slipping off into “by-low land,” soothed by the melody | 
the Old Pasific was crooning on its shores a mie and a halt | 
106— 
