erhaps, _because_ our ways differ,
we are able to study in company. Certainly this circumstance proved
available in circumventing the wily chat, and that happened which had
happened before: in fleeing from one who made herself obvious to him, he
presented himself, an unsuspecting victim, to another who sat like a
statue against the wall. To avoid his pursuer, the bird slipped through
the thick foliage of the low oaks, and took his place on the outside, in
full view of me, but looking through the branches at the movements
within so intently that he never turned his eyes toward me. This gave me
an opportunity to study his manners that is rare indeed, for a chat off
his guard is something inconceivable.

He shouted out his whole _repertoire_ (or so it seemed) with great
vehemence, now "peeping" like a bird in the nest, then "chacking" like a
blackbird, mewing as neatly as pussy herself, and varying these calls by
the rattling of castanets and other indescribable sounds. His perch was
half way down the bush; his trim olive-drab back and shining golden
breast were in their spring glory, and he stood nearly upright as he
sang, every moment stretching up to look for the invader behind the
leaves. The instant she appeared outside, he vanished within, and I
folded my chair and passed on. His disturber had not caught a glimpse of
him.

My next interview with a chat took place a day or two later. Between the
cottage which was our temporary home and the next one was a narrow
garden bordered by thick hedges, raspberry bushes down each side, and a
mass of flowering shrubs next the street. From my seat within the house,
a little back from the open window, I was startled by the voice of a
chat close at hand. Looking cautiously out, I saw him in the garden,
foraging about under cover of the bushes, near the ground, and there for
some time I watched him. He had not the slightest repose of manner; the
most ill-bred tramp in the English sparrow family was in that respect
his superior, and the most nervous and excitable of wrens could not
outdo him in posturing, jerking himself up, flirting his tail, and
hopping from twig to twig. When musically inclined, he perched on the
inner side of the bushes against the front fence, a foot or two above
the ground, and within three feet of any one who might pass, but
perfectly hidden.

The performance of the chat was exceedingly droll; first a whistle,
clear as an oriole note, followed by chacks tha