They soon succeeded in bringing all the other birds within
hearing distance to the spot to take part in the demonstration. It was
unreasonable of the cuckoos, to say the least of it, for it was now
long past their breeding season, so that parental solicitude could not
be pleaded as an excuse for their churlish behaviour. The
others--tanagers, finches, tyrant-birds; red, white, blue, grey, yellow,
and mixed--were, I must own, less troublesome, for, after hopping about
for a while, screaming, chirping, and twittering, they very sensibly
flew away, no doubt thinking their friends the cuckoos were making a
great deal too much fuss. My sole mammalian visitor was an armadillo,
that came hurrying towards me, looking curiously like a little old
bent-backed gentleman in a rusty black coat trotting briskly about on
some very important business. It came to within three yards of my feet,
then stopped, and seemed astonished beyond measure at my presence,
staring at me with its little, bleary, blinking eyes, and looking more
like the shabby old gentleman than ever. Then it trotted away through
the trees, but presently returned for a second inspection; and after
that it kept coming and going, till I inadvertently burst out laughing,
whereupon it scuttled away in great alarm, and returned no more. I was
sorry I had frightened the amusing little beggar, for I felt in that
exceedingly light-hearted mood when one's merriment is ready to brim
over at the slightest provocation.
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