OUK SWEETEST SONGSTERS. 



A bird's attire lias little to do with his 

 song — unless it might be said that, as a rule, 

 the more plainly dressed birds are the sweetest 

 songsters. Look at that modest little minstrel, 

 the song sparrow, not observed by one person 

 out of a hundred, and scarcely known from the 

 English sparrow even b}^ the majority of our 

 country people, and yet what matchless sweet- 

 ness bubbles from his tuneful throat ! The 

 brown thrasher and mocking bird are disap- 

 pointing at first blush on account of the com- 

 monplaceness of their appearance, and must be 

 heard, rather than seen, to be appreciated. 



The like may be said of the little Euro- 

 pean bird of the poets, the skylark. Many a 

 poet, like Keats and Shelley and Wordsworth, 

 has woven a garland of verse about this won- 

 derful bird. Do you desire to learn some- 

 thing about this songster's habits? High in 

 the air as these birds soar when they sing, 

 their nests are built on the ground in a tuft of 



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