BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 
monstrated in the next song, which I heard early one 
morning before rising, in Springfield, Mass. 
This part showed doubt of the theme; ie finally it came ds above. 
ip: 
) as. oF: 
It sounded at first like a boy whistling, who was not 
quite sure of his theme. But at last I recognized the un- 
mistakable staccato style of the singer—it was the Oriole, 
and he was practising a bit of that familiar song in the 
opera of Martha! 
‘TI can wash, sir, I can spin, sir, 
I can sew, and mend, and babies tend.” 
Oriole has a certain vehement if not excited way of 
singing which is all his own. No other bird can give 
a staccato note so well, none other, except the Thrush, 
can approach him in clearness of style; he never mixes 
things up, his A is A, sharp or flat, it never gets too near 
B. His song may be doubtful in pitch, he may even be 
quite out of tune, but he never slurs over a passage, or 
slides down: the scale like the Wood Pewee ; on the con- 
trary, he hits his notes with hammerlike taps directly on 
the head! He isa sharp-billed, sharp-witted character, 
and his remarks are as incisive and crisp as the toots of 
a steam whistle; the following record, which I got in 
Campton, N. H., will show that plainly: 
MAtler the above introduction, these notes weregiven with the 
sharp precision ofa steam whistle, 
