ELLIOT 



A BIRD COURT OF SONG 



327 



song ior the entertainment of the assemblage; the appearance of 

 each being the signal for absolute quiet on the part of the audience, 

 and his retirement greeted with loud expressions apparently of joy 

 or approval. For perhaps an hour the concert continued, and I 

 finally left before the birds had dispersed, somewhat puzzled — I 

 must confess — as to the object of the gathering. It scarcely 

 seemed possible that these feathered minstrels had all assembled 

 merely for the purpose of teaching the young ones the scales and 



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Suddenly the throat of the Cock Bird swelled and he burst forth into song. 



cadences of linnet music. The presence of both male and female 

 birds, the succession of artists — each appearing separately upon 

 the stage — the very actions of the birds comprising the audience 

 would almost warrant one in assuming that the little creatures had 

 met together from a purely aesthetic motive, the desire to hear 

 the great tenors and baritones of their tribe. 



Migratory birds have frequently been observed collecting in 

 great numbers preparatory to taking their flight toward warmer 

 climes, whither an instinct not yet fully tmderstood seems to 

 unerringly guide them. The long nights undertaken by ducks, 

 starlings, and many others of the feathered people including the 

 tiny humming-birds, seem to be inspired by some inborn spirit 



