I had watched a number of interesting birds on Wizard Island and they all seemed to be behaving themselves as they should, when a nasal "yenk, yenk-yenk" reached me as I went along the trail. When I first saw him, he was perched on the tip of a dead limb. That in itself was nothing to get excited about. Nuthatches have a habit of sitting in positions and on places that Nuthatches shouldn't, but this one went the whole family one better. Suddenly on his absurd little wings he fluttered valiantly out into the air-lane of insect aviators that swept down a current of wind between the trees. He did a couple of somersaults, almost flew on his back, his tiny wings beating frantically, and then returned to his lookout station looking very pleased with himself.

Now, if he had done that once, and then gone on about his business, I should have thought nothing about it. But he left his perch to repeat the performance a number of times. An Olive-sided Flycatcher nearby, looked, I thought, aghast at such a performance, which obviously was the sole property and copyright of the Flycatchers. Finally, as so many of us do, this little fellow got all his wild oats out of his system and hurried efficiently about his neglected business as though it had never entered his head to rebel at the customs of his people or to break the conventions handed down by his tribe.