THE INVITATION 219 



notwithstanding the difference of form and build, 

 etc., is very suggestive of the English skylark, as 

 it figures in the books, and is, no doubt, fully its 

 equal as a songster. 



Of our small wood-birds we have three varieties 

 east of the Mississippi, closely related to each other, 

 which I have already spoken of, and which walk, 

 and sing, more or less, on the wing, namely, the 

 two species of water-thrush or wagtails, and the 

 oven-bird or wood- wagtail. The latter is the most 

 common, and few observers of the birds can have 

 failed to notice its easy, gliding walk. Its other 

 lark trait, namely, singing in the air, seems not to 

 have been observed by any naturalist. Yet it is 

 a well-established characteristic, and may be verified 

 by any person who will spend a half hour in the 

 woods where this bird abounds on some June after- 

 noon or evening. I hear it very frequently after 

 sundown, when the ecstatic singer can hardly be 

 distinguished against the sky. I know of a high, 

 bald-top mountain where I have sat late in the after- 

 noon and heard them as often as one every minute. 

 Sometimes the bird would be far below me, some- 

 times near at hand; and very frequently the singer 

 would be hovering a hundred feet above the sum- 

 mit. He would start from the trees on one side of 

 the open space, reach his climax in the air, and 

 plunge down on the other side. Its descent after 

 the song is finished is very rapid, and precisely like 

 that of the titlark when it sweeps down from its 

 course to alight on the ground. 



