160 BY-WAYS AND BIRD-NOTES. 
a considerable profit from them. He under- 
stood his business perfectly, going about it 
with great energy, but evincing no enthusiasm 
or especial feeling of any kind. 
In the thickly settled States of the West the 
orchards and hedges are, in spring-time, the 
abodes of many singing birds. The field-spar- 
row 1s chief among these, showing off his ex- 
quisite vocal gifts about the time that the 
young wheat is ankle high. His life is mostly 
spent on the ground where he runs through 
thick grass or cereal sward with a rapidity like 
that of the ousel in water. When the lyrical 
mood comes on he mounts to the top of a 
stump, a hedge or a fence, and pours forth a very 
sweet little carol, meantime elevating his head 
to the full extent of his neck, and puffing out his 
little throat after the manner of a toad. 
The orioles and some of the warblers have 
cheerful voices, but can scarcely be called fine 
singers. They give a dash of freshness to our 
groves when they arrive early from the South, 
and, like our blue-bird, are always welcome. 
Speaking of the blue-bird, he is uniquely 
American. He has no kin on the other con- 
tinents. He appears to be a flake of the ce- 
rulean above, let fall, by.a special dispensa- 
tion, upon our favored country. Like some 
poets, he is always just about to sing, but never 
does more than begin his song. His frag- 
ments are divine, however, suggesting a reserve 
of something too sweet and fine for the com- 
mon winds to bear. His is a rhythmical na- 
ture, and his flight is a poem in itself. As he 
goes trembling and wavering along through 
the air and sunshine, he adds to a May-day 
just the touch that makes it perfect. The 
