BIRD-SONGS. 43 
chee. It is nothing wonderful that he should 
sing on the wing, — many other birds do the 
same, and very much better than he; but he is 
singular in that he strictly reserves his aerial 
music for late in the afternoon. I have heard 
it as early as three o’clock, but never before 
that, and it is most common about sunset. 
Writers speak of it as limited to the season of 
courtship ; but I have heard it almost daily till 
near the end of July, and once, for my special 
benefit, perhaps, it was given in full —and re- 
peated — on the first day of September. But 
who taught the little creature to do this, — to 
sing one song in the forenoon, perched upon a 
twig, and to keep another for afternoon, sing- 
ing that invariably on the wing? and what dif- 
ference is there between the two in the mind 
of the singer ?! 
It is an indiscretion ever to say of a bird 
that he has only such and such notes. You 
may have been his friend for years, but the 
next time you go into the woods he will likely 
enough put you to shame by singing something 
not so much as hinted at in your description. 
I thought I knew the song of the yellow-rumped 
warbler, having listened to it many times, —a 
1 Since this paper was written I have three times heard the wood 
wagtail’s true song in the morning, — but in neither case was the 
bird in the air. See p. 284. 
