36 BIRDSONGS. 
them models of conjugal and parental faithful- 
ness. With a few exceptions (and these, it is a 
pleasure to add, not singers), the very least of 
them is literally faithful unto death. Here and 
there, in the notes of some collector, we are told 
of a difficulty he has had in securing a coveted 
specimen: the tiny creature, whose mate had 
been already “collected,” would persist in hov- 
ering so closely about the invader’s head that it 
was impossible to shoot him without spoiling 
him for the cabinet by blowing him to pieces! 
Need there be any mystery about the singing 
of such a lover? Is it surprising if at times 
he is so enraptured that he can no longer sit 
tamely on the branch, but must dart into the 
air, and go circling round and round, caroling 
as he flies ? 
So far as song is the voice of emotion, it will 
of necessity vary with the emotion ; and every 
one who has ears must have heard once in a 
while bird music of quite unusual fervor. For 
example, I have often seen the least flycatcher 
(a very unromantic-looking body, surely) when 
he was almost beside himself ; flying in a circle, 
and repeating breathlessly his emphatic chedec. 
And once I found a wood pewee in a somewhat 
similar mood. He was more quiet than the 
least flycatcher; but he too sang on the wing, 
aud I have never heard notes which seemed 
