48 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
wonderfully sweet song. It is not very loud, 
but of such a kind that it is heard when the bird 
is far out of sight. When he can no longer be 
seen, one may still follow him with a good field- 
glass. He will sing without stopping for fifteen 
or twenty minutes. 
Then suddenly he stops, closes his wings, and 
comes head first towards the ground. It seems 
as if he would dash his brains out against the 
earth, but just before he touches, he opens his 
wings and alights like a feather, almost where 
he started from. He should be as famous as the 
English bird, and will be, no doubt, when he is 
better known. 
One of the things which make bird-study so 
interesting to us is that there is so much to be 
found out about our birds. European birds 
have been studied much longer, but we have still 
many beautiful ones whose manners and ways 
of living are almost unknown. These things are 
left for you young folk to find out when you are 
grown up. 
