254 LAND BIRDS 
his best efforts. Then from high in an oak or pine 
he will whistle a rhapsody, so tender, so pure, so full 
eS of joy that it seems a floodtide of 
~~ . . 
Qn love let loose in music. But alas for 
sentiment ! No sooner is one round fin- 
ished than the singer turns his atten- 
; tion to feeding on the 
young buds nearest to him, 
sometimes even interrupt- 
ing his song to seize an 
especially tempting morsel. 
And so it is through- 
out the long bright 
_* day, 
he stops eat- 
big ing to break into singing, and pauses 
S in his finest carol to finish a meal, flit- 
ting from tree to tree and daintily feasting 
upon the tender terminal buds. No doubt 
this may be a disadvantage to the tree, but 
when we see him industriously clearing a 
potato field of the pest known as “ potato 
bug,” and singing gayly as he works, we 
) forgive him all the harm he has done to 
our pet fruit tree. It is impossible to 
watch him for one hour without becoming 
his loyal defender. Although a_ rather 
clumsy looking bird, his attitudes are always 
596. See avons pleasing. He leans forward to reach 
LOSBEAK, 
sprig | ‘ i S 
et a Weil ea eee ie beneath him much as a cross 
AEN ede a2 g bill feeds on a cone, or he stands erect 
