164 



THE OSPKEY. 



the side of a brush bound path or hedge, where 

 3'ou have heard him whistling", very much as a 

 boy whistles for his dog;, suddenly changing- to 

 a rippling laugh, you will see some of the 

 strangest antics, antics which only a Chat can 

 perform. You will see him launch out into the 

 air with his legs dangling", his tail drooping, 

 and his wings cast away over his back almost 

 touching when raised, and apparently not pass- 

 ing below the horizontal plane when lowered, 

 as he laboriously wings his way through space, 

 emitting with each descending stroke, a loud, 

 low, laughing note. Alighting on a new near by 

 branch j'ou will see his distended thi'oat quiver- 

 ing as he sends forth strain upon strain. He is 

 without doubt the most cheerful of all our sing- 

 ers and each note, even the harsher calls, are 

 interesting and pleasing, all the more so if you 

 can watch the performer. Sometimes it appears 

 to me as if the Chat was a grand mimic, and I 

 imagine I can recognize the notes of a host of 

 our songsters, the Cuckoo and Great Crested 

 Flj-catcher being in part responsible for the 

 harsher cries, but there are so many others, 

 aside from the many familiar ones which I am 

 unable to place, that I am forced to give it up 

 and am willing to attribute originality to his 

 notes as well as to his actions. 



As you continue your journey' and pass an 

 upland meadow you will be sureto hear the 

 whirring note of the Grasshopper Sparrow 

 and scanning the regions from which the 

 sound appears to emenate, you will behold 

 the little fellow seated all puffed up upon a 

 slender reed stalk, whirring away at his song- 

 as if his very life depended upon it. You 

 will leave your wheel and seek a nearer ac- 

 quainance. Beating back and forth through 

 the short dewy grass, you will suddenly see 

 another little brown body glide rapidly over the 

 ground on quivering wing, dropping- suddenlj' 

 into the grass only to emerge almost at once to 

 post herself upon an elevated bit of reed to ob- 

 serve your movements. If you have been 

 shrewd and have marked the very spot from 

 which you saw her emerge, you will very likely 

 be down upon your knees, inspecting a neat 

 little dome-shaped structure not unlike that of 

 the Oven Bird, but composed of blades of grass 

 instead of the leaves of trees, which are usually 

 employed by auricapillus. Within this partly 

 immersed cup you will note four very pretty 

 eggs, whose white ground is beautifully spotted 

 with richest brown. 



The uneasy chirping of the birds will not un- 

 frequently bring a pair of Field Sparrows to 

 the scene, and you may rest assured that their 

 nest with its four little ones is not far away. 



Sometimes too the Meadow I^ark will be found 

 in iields like these, but the Meadow Lark now 

 is not the bird of the Spring, at least one is 

 made to feel that it is quite another individual. 

 He is so silent at present, but we will have to 

 pardon him also for this too is his busy time. 



Another bird most conspicuous at this season 

 is the Cuckoo; he is ever on the move and you 



will be sure to meet him in your morning 

 ramble peering cautiously and curiously at you, 

 almost snake like, from some leafy covert. You 

 will be likely to meet with Waxwings. true Fly- 

 catchers at present, also Yellow Warblers, and 

 if 3'our way leads through a thin pine coppice 

 the Prairie Warbler is sure to add his name to 

 3'our list — as well as a host of the commoner 

 forms which greet you everywhere. 



Pursuing your spin through leafy avenues 

 3'ou will note the Vireos: the Red Eyed babbling 

 cheerfully amongst the trees is much more 

 numerous than his cousin, the Warbling, who 

 even seeks the busy haunts of men and warbles 

 his g'lad song amid the bustle of our crowded 

 thoroughfares. 



Not unfrequently, too, you will meet a Mourn- 

 ing Dove, or more likely a pair of them or per- 

 haps a whole family, enjoying- a dust bath in 

 the middle of the very path \'ou are pursuing. 

 But this is usually later in the day when the 

 sun is making things uncomfortably hot and 

 more often at eve just before he sinks out of 

 sight. 



Last month we complained of our inability to 

 find the Orchard Oriole's nest which we had 

 been looking for upon our premises. It was 

 another case of searching in the distance for an 

 object near at hand. The chatter of the young 

 revealed its where abouts the day before its four 

 3'oung occupants left it. It was located in a 

 small pear tree, scarcely ten feet from the 

 ground — in fact the tree itself is hardly more 

 than fifteen and it had never occurred to us that 

 Spurius would select such a position, when 

 many better ones, at least so it seemed to us, 

 were available. Spurius' reasons, however, 

 were better than ours, as the long failure to de- 

 tect the nest will testify. The frontispiece 

 shows two figures of the nest and its occupants. 

 I have all cause to believe that all went well 

 wi h the four young, although they had been 

 induced to leave the nest prematurely bj' the 

 parents, owing to the disturbance caused by our 

 taking the picture. They nevertheless seemed 

 to thrive well and were present at roll call for 

 many an evening-, and even now we hear and 

 see some of them occasionally. 



The Chimney Swifts too are clattering in the 

 chimneys but the little Hummers had to register 

 a second misfortune. Their nest was this time 

 placed in too prominent a place, and I found 

 the locust limb broken down even before they 

 had completed the little structure. They seem 

 to have left the neig-hboi-hood and we certainly 

 hope that they have found a location which will 

 accord them more happiness. 



Jui-Y 4. 



Desiring to escape the noise and tumult which 

 ever accompanies this glorious day, we acquired 

 a boat at Georgetown and betook ourself up 

 stream to celebrate in a way much preferable 

 to us to the burning of fizbangs and firecrack- 

 ers. It was a warm day. but where, about the 

 City of Washington, could 3'ou find a place more 



