Song-Birds in Europe and America 73 



sunrise. I have never timed its duration, and can only say that the 

 bird songs heard by people who are astir at the ordinary morning 

 hours can give no idea of the richness of the full orchestra. By the 

 time the sun has risen high enough to sensibly increase the heat the 

 concert has quite subsided, and is not renewed till dawn of the follow- 

 ing day. Only three or four species persist in singing during our hot 

 summer days ; the Summer Tanager is the most conspicuous, both 

 from the vigor of his song and the richness of his coloring — I have 

 often seen him perched, at midday, on the summit of a tall tree, his 

 rich vermilion plumage resplendent in the full glare of the blazing 

 sun, as he carolled his robin-like song. The Red-eyed Vireo is 

 another, who sings cheerfully all day long as he carefully searches 

 for worms and spiders among the leafy branches. The Yellow-breasted 

 Chat, too, amuses himself (and others) with his odd cat-calls and 

 whistlings, the Indigo Bird sings his sprightly ditty, and the Field 

 Sparrow his plaintive chant. But during the day bird songs are 

 with us intermittent or desultory, and there is nothing like the chorus 

 of early morning. Unless the weather be showery, there is only one 

 prominent regular evening songster. Then the Wood Thrush is at his 

 best. As the Thrushes begin to quiet down the Ovenbird, or Golden- 

 crowned Thrush, begins his exquisite vesper warble (often repeated 

 through the night), so utterly different from his monotonous day- 

 time song that one not knowing the singer would never suspect that 

 it was the same bird. All through the night, whether moonlight or 

 dark, clear or rainy, the Chat seems to be wide awake ; perhaps he 

 sings in his sleep ; however this may be, no bird, not even the Night- 

 ingale itself, can be a more regular and persistent nocturnal songster ; 

 indeed this bird does most of his singing at night, though unfortu- 

 nately his performance is anything but melodious. During the breed- 

 ing season other songsters occasionall}' break the stillness of night 

 with a brief outburst of song, as if unable to repress their happiness 

 even during sleep : but, unlike the Chat, the}' do not go beyond 

 one or two such ebullitions. 



In other parts of our country the writer has, on many occasions, 

 heard, earl}^ on mornings in May and June, grand concerts of bird 

 music, which probably would challenge comparison, both as to quality 

 and quantity, with any to be heard in other portions of the world, 

 excepting, probably, the highlands of Mexico, which are said, and 

 probably with truth, to be without a rival in both number and quality of 

 songsters. The following list is copied from my note-book, and was 

 made during the progress of such a concert, the birds named singing 

 simultaneously in my immediate vicinit\\ The localit}' was not a 

 particularly favorable one, being two miles from a small village, and 



