. Bird lore . his wont after announcing his arrival. Icalled out an eager welcome and the Mammalogist, equally glad to see him,hurriedly threw him a pocket mouse that had been waiting for him, such abig one that he had to gulp hard to even partly swallow it and had to leavethe tail sticking out of the side of his bill for some minutes. In the afternoonhe was back for more, however, as if his prolonged hunting expedition had lefthim hungry, this time coming within two feet, almost to the hand for a smallkangaroo rat. The first week in February Koo appeared on the trail above the tent with 264 B
. Bird lore . his wont after announcing his arrival. Icalled out an eager welcome and the Mammalogist, equally glad to see him,hurriedly threw him a pocket mouse that had been waiting for him, such abig one that he had to gulp hard to even partly swallow it and had to leavethe tail sticking out of the side of his bill for some minutes. In the afternoonhe was back for more, however, as if his prolonged hunting expedition had lefthim hungry, this time coming within two feet, almost to the hand for a smallkangaroo rat. The first week in February Koo appeared on the trail above the tent with 264 Bird - Lore a companion. He stayed to be talked to as usual but the stranger ran that time on there seemed to be a difference. Koo was not getting senti-mental, but spring was coming. One morning when the Mammalogist was several rods from camp near whatwe took for a last years Roadrunner nest, he heard a faint footfall on a leaf ona terrace below him and caught sight of Koos crested head bobbing as he. KOO IN A HACKBERRY TREE trotted along. Being called, Koo stopped, turned, and came right up the trailin the direction of the sound, and when he had skirted around the bushes untilhe was able to see his old friend, he began making a new and curious note—low,sibilant, and seething, suggestive of a courtship call. He kept this up whenhe had seated himself on a branch two or three feet above the ground, andhumped up, with feathers loosely ruffled, facing the old nest, had all the inti-mate suggestion of being at home. Koo 26^ After that, Koo not only recognized his friend when met with in this neigh-borhood but when called, actually followed him like a little dog back downthe trail to camp for food. As the two birds stayed in the neighborhood for a few days, we hoped thatwe were going to have a nest under close observation, but then they bothdeserted the old nesting-ground. About the first week in March it grew warm enough to rouse some of thelizards and we were away a grea
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
