SOME BIRDS THAT COME IN MAY 411 
I hear a voice that seems to say, 
Now near at hand, now far away, 
“Witchery-witchery-witchery !” 
* * * * * * * 
An incantation so serene, 
So innocent, befits the scene; 
There’s magic in that small bird’s note. 
See! there he flits — the Yellowthroat ; 
A living sunbeam, tipped with wings, 
A spark of light that shines and sings, 
“Witchery-witchery-witchery !”’ 
— Henry VAN Dykg, in The Builders and Other Poems. 
“A whistle comes out of the bushes that line the wood 
lane perhaps when you are gathering the pink Wild Azalea. 
If you have a dog with you, he will get up and sniff about. 
The whistle is repeated, and you yourself think it is one 
of your companions who has rounded the turn calling 
you. No; then it is merely a Catbird mocking half a 
dozen other songsters and then jeering at them. 
“By mere chance, glancing at a tree close above, you 
see a bird of good size with brilliant yellow throat, breast, 
and wing-linings, and a strong curved beak that appears 
almost hooked. Perching there is a Yellow-breasted 
Chat. He it is who is doing the mocking and jeering, 
but throws his voice in such a way that it seems to 
come from the opposite bushes. It is this power that 
gives him the name of ‘ Ventriloquist.’? Being observed, 
he slips quickly out of sight, and then you notice the 
olive-green colour on his back. He has a song of his own 
as well as the power of imitating others and in the nesting 
season floats out upon the air, with spread wings and legs 
