4 THE CONDOR Vol. XX! A Sora Rail was frequently heard along the marshy border of the Coulee and once when its song came from the high, partly-lodged marsh grass almost under my end of the Bridge, I mechanically whistled the scale after it. In- stant response in loud ringing tones surprised me so that, without stopping to think, I craned eagerly forward over the Bridge, projecting my shadow .over the marsh--a bad break for an old observer! Again I whistled, but there was no response, and the next song was well down the Coulee. Not until I had re- crossed the Bridge on leaving did the loud clear scale come again in the same place, and never on any of my subsequent visits was I able to see that disillu- sioned Sora. A few yards from the Sora's hiding ground, one day, I found the Yellow Warblers feeding young. The father of the family, with strong reddish breast streakings flew up into a conspicuous position on a dead willow where he sang loudly, trying to hold my attention while his duller mate, with food in her bill, flew in the direction of small voices down among the roadside weeds. Near the ?inging station of the Warbler, in a dead bush, two male Cowbirds faced each other, shining, glossy, and respectable looking in spite of their bad family reputation. Going on with an interrupted conversation, perhaps, they pointed Lheir bills skyward, making themselves look very thin and sleek. Passing Ducks, now a handsome l?Iallard, Shoveller, or Blue-winged Teal, occssionally dropped into the Cou!ee, a Black-crowned Night Heron flew over with neck drawn in, a l?Iarsh Hawk pursued by a Redwing hurried by with a flash of white rump and red epauletres, Black Terns skimmed past, and twit- tering Barn Swallows with their steely backs and bully underparts swung around under the Bridge and over the water, in and out and round about. There were so few passersby on this prairie Bridge ten miles from town that it proved an excellent observation station, and after discovering this, when not engrossed by birds in the sloughs, I came down to take advantage of what it offered. During my visits, at rare intervals I had to pick up my camp stool and shrink back into the willows, once to let some four horse grain wag- OhS pass. Some days no one came to disturb me, and one morning during a two hour vigil only two passersby came, the crippled Rural Route mail carrier with his old white horse and bulging bags and a virile youth whose automobile was heard far across the prairie and who, bare-headed, flashed past full of the enjoyment of racing over the big prairies. The only foot passengers were a family of pretty young "flicker-tails" which came up from their hole at my end of the Bridge and used the smooth level boulevard as a playground. One touched my foot - as he came up through the grass, one day, and then calmly taking his stand about six feet from me where his bright eyes, spotted back, and sandy underparts could clearly be seen, bent over and taking his head in his paws, proceeded with a cat-like bath. While so engaged, a young brother came up, and with a slap of the paw they were off, scampering down the length of the Bridge, tails flickering. On the way back they sobered up enough to stop now and then and stand up on their hind legs, stretching up on tip toe to see better. Once when they had chased noisily down the Bridge past me, one of the pair came back inquisitively, and standing up close in front of me, calmly looked me over. From the raised platform of the Bridge I looked down on the birds of the Coulee and got delightful hints of family histories unguessed before. In the sloughs, day after day, the gray Coots had run to cover before me, and when
