30 Etnant^ of tHe STrees 



their merry cousin the brown thrasher, 

 who watches the farmer as he plants his 

 corn, and continually cries, " Plant it : 

 plant it : dig it up : dig it up. Pull it up. 

 Pull it up." 



I also learned to tell many birds by 

 their flight when they were too far away 

 to distinguish colour or form. There 

 was the peculiar galloping of the wood- 

 pecker family, that is only imitated by 

 one other bird, and that is a small yellow 

 bird, or wild canary. 



Then there is the habit of sailing 

 which is common to the hawk family, 

 and rarely indulged in by other birds. 

 The quick strokes of the quail and the 

 meadow-lark, and the darting and skim- 

 ming of the barn-swallow. The light- 

 ning plunges of the night-hawk down 

 the twilight sky, followed by that hoarse 

 booming sound. These are only a few 



