288 BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES 



gave himself up to a lyrical transport, I made careful 

 notes, and now give the substance of my elaborate 

 entries. The song, which is intermittent, opens with 

 three prolonged notes running high in the scale, and is 

 succeeded by a quaint, rattling trill of an indescribable 

 character, not without musical effect, which is followed 

 by thi'ee double-toned long notes quite different from 

 the opening phrases ; then the whole performance is 

 closed by an exceedingly high and fine run like an 

 insect's hum — so fine, indeed, that the auditor must 

 be near at hand to notice it at all. Sometimes the 

 latter half of the score, including the second triad of 

 long notes, is repeated before the soloist stops to take 

 breath. It will be seen that the regular song consists 

 of four distinct phrases, two triads and two trills. 

 About one-third of the songs are opened in a little 

 lower key than the rest, the remainder being corre- 

 spondingly mellowed. The opening syllables, and, in- 

 deed, some other parts of the melody as well, are very 

 like certain strains of the song-sparrow, both in execu- 

 tion and in quality of tone ; and thus even the expe- 

 rienced ornithologist may sometimes be led astray. 

 When the bunting sails into the air, he rehearses the 

 song just described, only he is very likely to prolong 

 it by repeating the various parts, though I think he 

 seldom, if ever, throws them together in a hodge-podge. 

 He seems to follow a system in his recitals, varied as 



