SOME STRANGE BIRD MUSIC. 



THE music which the Chinese make, or the noise 

 which they call music, is not very pleasant to 

 our ears, and the savage races make still more hideous 

 sounds to express their joy. Birds, too, differ very 

 much in the character of the sounds by which they 

 express their feelings. When the Skylark knows that 

 his mate is sitting in her nest in the wheat, and brood- 

 ing the eggs from which his dear young are to hatch, 

 he cannot keep on the ground, but mounts far into the 

 sky, singing and singing, sometimes for ten minutes 

 at a time. People listen and wonder at the beauty of 

 his song. 



There is a large bird, long-legged and an awkward 

 flyer, with a long, sharp bill with which he spears 

 unfortunate frogs. He lives in the marshes, and his 

 brown dress is striped so that when he stands motion- 

 less among the tall grass or cat-tails, you would take 

 him for a stake, or a bunch of the reeds themselves. 

 He is called the Bittern, or, by the country people, 

 Stake-Driver or Thunder- Pumper. 



The last name describes very well the sound which 

 he makes when his mate is sitting on her damp nest 

 in the cat-tails. To cheer her and remind her that he 



