RED-WINGED BLACK-BIRD. 171 



in the morning and evening before retiring to or leaving the 

 roost; previous to settling themselves for the night, and 

 before parting in the day, they seem all to join in a gene- 

 ral chorus of liquid warbling tones, which would be very 

 agreeable but for the interruption of the plaints and jarring 

 sounds with which it is blended. They continue to feed in 

 small parties in swamps and by slow streams and ponds till 

 the middle or close of April, when they begin to separate 

 in pairs. Sometimes, however, they appear to be partly 

 polygamous, like their cousins the Cow Troopials, as amids 

 a number of females enorao;ed in incubation, but few of 

 the other sex appear associated with them ; and as among 

 the Bobolinks, sometimes two or three of the males may 

 be seen in chase of an individual of the other sex, but 

 without making any contest or show of jealous feud with 

 each other, as a concubinage rather than any regular 

 mating seems to prevail among the species. 



Assembled again in their native marshes, the male 

 perched upon the summit of some bush surrounded by 

 water, in company with his mates, now sings out, at short 

 intervals, his guttural 1cong-quer-ree, sharply calls ftsheah, 

 or, when disturbed, plaintively utters 'ttshdy ; to which 

 his companions, not insensible to these odd attentions, 

 now and then return a gratulatory cackle or reiterated 

 chirp, like that of the native Meadow Lark. As a pleas- 

 ant and novel, though not unusual accompaniment, per- 

 haps the great Bull Frog elevates his green head and brassy 

 eyes from the stagnant pool, and calls out in a loud and 

 echoing bellow, 'lo^rroo, ^warroo, ^worrorroo, 'bod?'oo, 

 which is again answered, or, as it were, merely varied, by 

 the creaking or cackling voice of his feathered neighbours. 

 This curious concert, uttered as it were from the still 

 and sable waters of the Styx, is at once both ludicrous 

 and solemn. About the end of April or early in May, 



