How does Doodle respond to the Scarlet Ibis and to its death?

    Doodle acts strangely--even for Doodle--but seems to almost immediately identify with the "red, dead bird" that falls from the bleeding tree in the James Hurst short story, "The Scarlet Ibis." When he first sees the bird high in the tree, Doodle grabs his throat with both hands. When he realizes it is dead, he wants to bury it but is warned not to touch it. So he drapes a string around the ibis's neck and drags it off to its final resting place. He sings "Shall We Gather at the River" and then buries it next to the petunia bed in the front yard. Twice he refuses his mother's offer of peach cobbler before heading off to Old Woman Swamp with his brother. But on this day, he is too tired to swim, and he

"did not speak and kept his head turned away, letting one hand trail limply in the water."

Perhaps he, too, can sense that his life is nearing its end.