WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



it is uttered "with the pleasing tranquillity of a 

 careless plough-boy whistling for his own amuse- 

 ment/' It is a joyous, contented song, standing 

 out from the chorus that greets our half-awakened 

 ears at daylight as brightly as its author shines 

 against the dewy foliage. T. W. Higginson ex- 

 claims, "Yonder oriole fills with light and melody 

 the thousand branches of a neighborhood." It is 

 a song varying with the time and circumstances, 

 and, as among all birds, some orioles are better 

 performers than others. Dr. Brewer thought that 

 when they first arrived, and were awaiting the 

 females, the voices of the males were loud and some- 

 what shrill, as though in lamentation, and that 

 this song changed into a "richer, lower, and more 

 pleasing refrain"' when they were joined by their 

 partners. The quality of their music is certainly 

 different in different parts of the country, seeming, 

 for example, to be more subdued towards the north- 

 ern limit of their range. 



A writer in an old number of Putnam's Maga- 

 zine (Mr. C. A. Munger, June, 1869), describes two 

 orioles with which he had been acquainted for sev- 

 eral summers. These birds had taken up their 

 residences within about a quarter of a mile of 

 each other, one in a public park, and the other 



250 



