THE OOLOGIST. 



9 



saying that no bird among us which is 

 so well known, has eluded the observ- 

 ers of bird songs as this one has done. 



I listened to the love song of the 

 Oven-bird for the first time in 18S0. A 

 burst of melody reached me in a dense 

 piece of low woods, well filled with 

 underbrush, and the delightful notes 

 were surprising and doubly pleasing to 

 me in this location. At first on hear- 

 ing the song the idea presented itself 

 that a species new to me was singing, 

 and my extreme care in reaching the 

 glade in hopes of secnring a note, pro- 

 cured me a chance of witnessing a most 

 singular porformance. Crawling 



through the brush I came to a partial 

 clearing, over which a bird, evidently 

 in the highest transports of joy, was 

 fluttering in irregular flight. It is not 

 surprising that 1 failed to recognize the 

 performer in this, to me, unusual as- 

 pect, for there was not a feature in its 

 notes or movements in which it resem- 

 bled its ordinary and understood hab- 

 its. 



Observing another bird, evidently a 

 Golden-crowned Thrush, and its mate, 

 perched on the ground near, and which 

 appeared to be the center of attraction 

 to the delighted warbler overhead. I 

 quietly awaited the movements of the 

 pair. Never had I heard this song be- 

 fore and never had I witnessed such a 

 scene. This was indeed, making love 

 with a spirit not often witnessed among 

 our warblers. 



This song was almost continuous, 

 that is, together with the interruptions 

 of the more subdued call or conversa- 

 tion notes, and the common chattering 

 notes, so well known and described by 

 Coues as a harsh crescendo, and was 

 largely of the most melodious strains. 



The energetic, unconscious fellow 

 was in the meantime consistently flying 

 above his inamorata, describing nearly 

 every form of flight except sailing. 

 First dashing to the edge of the glade, 

 then rising to the tops of the bushes he 



would flutter almost directly upward 

 as we have oftea seen the European 

 Sparrow or House Wren do, and reach- 

 ing a height of twenty feet or more, 

 would flutter toward his mate, or dash 

 about the clearing in varying evolutions 

 almost constantly singing. She, in the 

 meantime sat silent, and probably in- 

 terestpd in the performance. The ap- 

 pearance of a third party on the scene, 

 undoubtedly also a lover, caused the 

 ecstatic singer to dash into a bush. 



This song ecstacy is rare, as it is also 

 the much simpler one of the Grass 

 Finch or Vesper Sparrow as it is called, 

 which also goes into a rapturous song- 

 flight occasionly. The Finch rises into 

 the air fifty feet or more but not as rap- 

 idly as the Bobolink, and generally set- 

 tles back near to the point from which 

 it took its flight. The Bobolink sings 

 as well when perched as in its flight, 

 though not so continued, but the Grass 

 Finch's song when on the surface is 

 very commonplace, while its flight-song 

 like that of the Oven bird, is superior. 



A number of species of birds em- 

 braced in the systematic division of, 

 are known to utter their notes on the 

 wing, and from the Crow to the Martin, 

 which is the nearest to a musician 

 among the Swallows, there are many 

 which give their best efforts while fly- 

 ing. Among these is the Prairie Horn- 

 ed Lark, which comes very near to be- 

 ing a singer, and which has a flight of 

 special interest; still these efforts are 

 not sufficiently musiciai to entitle the 

 birds to rank in this list of musicians as 

 accepted by critics. 



It will be observed that a tremulous 

 motion of the wings almost invariably 

 accompanies song flight. We may 

 maintain, then, that the quiverings of 

 the wings is an accompaniment to the 

 song is a strictly seasonal feature. All 

 have noticed the loss of the song syn- 

 chronously with the skyward flutter in 

 the case of the Bobolink, when he as- 

 sumes his summer dress and leaves for 



