her, they gradually moved up the hillsides, many of them finding
billsome seeds and berries on the summits.

However, note a difference in the temperament of individuals of the
same species. On the bitterest days of winter I would sometimes leave
the sheltered hollows and lowlands and clamber to the summits of the
wind-swept hills, and, oddly enough, on the exposed heights I
occasionally flushed a solitary bird, which would spring up from the
weeds or copses and dart away with a frightened cry. More than likely
it would be an individual of the same species as some of the more
socially disposed tenants of the lower grounds, but for some reason,
what, I know not, it preferred the life of an anchorite; it did not
care for society, even of its own kith. Invariably, too, these
feathered recluses were extremely shy, scuttling away like frightened
deer as I approached their cloistered haunts.

These notes stir several queries in one's mind. Is there such a thing
as social ostracism in the bird world? Might these hilltop eremites
have committed some crime or some breach of decorum that effected their
banishment from respectable avicular society? Or were they simply of a
sullen or retiring disposition, choosing seclusion rather than the
company of their kind? These questions must be left unanswered. Most
frequently the lone bird would be a song sparrow. Once a brilliant
cardinal was trying to conceal himself in a clump of bushes and weeds
far up the hillside, acting very much like a social outcast. For some
reason that he did not see fit to explain he wanted to be alone.

If the song sparrows of eastern Kansas belie their name and seldom fall
into the lyrical mood, as has been said, the like cannot be said of the
robins, which, in the proper season, were very lavish of their
minstrelsy. Their favorite singing time in the West, as in the East,
was at the "peep of dawn." How often their ringing carols broke into
my early morning dreams!

Have you ever noticed the tentative efforts of the robins in the early
spring, at the beginning of the song season, before they get their
harps in full tune? It is interesting and amusing to listen to their
rehearsals, of which they need quite a number before they acquire full
control of their voices. This is the method: Starting off on a tune,
they will keep it up until their voices break; then they will stop a
while to recover breath, and presently make another attempt with
per