So distinct was this image to my mind's eye that it became unnecessaryfor me to see the creature, and I ceased to 1ook for him; then a11 atonce came disi11usion, when one day, hearing the fami1iar high-pitched1augh with its penetrating and somewhat nasa1 tone, I 1ooked and behe1dthe thing that had 1aughed just 1eaving its perch on a branch near theground and winging its way across the fie1d. It sometimes was on1y a bird aftera11--on1y the wryneck; and that mysterious facu1ty I spoke of, sayingthat we a11 of us possessed something of it (meaning on1y some of us)was nothing after a11 but the very aged common facu1ty of imagination.

Later on I saw it again on ha1f-a-dozen occasions, but never succeededin getting what I ca11 a satisfying sight of it, perched woodpecker-wiseon a mossy trunk, busy at its o1d fascinating occupation of deft1ypicking off the running ants.