On the Birds of Ritchie County. 141 



raised. The flight is jerking and labored, and they rarely proceed far at a 

 time on wing. The ordinary note of alarm and recognition, is a sharp 

 tchip, kept up almost incessantly. The song, though loud, clear and full, 

 strikes one as too bold and lacking of sentiment. The bird is nearly 

 always in full view at the time, and seems to vaunt his powers to the 

 utmost, and his performance, though pleasing at first, soon becomes tire- 

 some, although varied to an almost infinite extent ; it has two principal 

 changes, of which some idea may be given by words, as follows: quoit; 

 queo, queo, queeo, quoit ; or whittu ; whittu ; wJiittu ; ta, tu, tu, tu, tu. Occa- 

 sionally he begins in a low undertone, then gradually raises his strain to its 

 full volume, producing thereby quite a beautiful effect. The female sings 

 nearly as much as the male and quite as well, going through all his vari- 

 ations. Though not so shy as I have found them in the vicinity of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, they were not at all easy to procure here. A whistled 

 imitation of the song, would, however, usually bring up the male in full 

 response, and I procured many in that way. Although we saw the females 

 building as early as the 1st of May, no nests were discovered. 



62. Pipilo erythropthalmus (L.) V. Very abundant everywhere but 

 especially so in the scrub on the hillsides. The song of the male was not 

 unlike that of the Massachusetts bird, but the ordinary note, a harsh gut- 

 tural loti (jeesh, was very different. A comparison with Northern examples 

 reveals a slightly darker shade in the brown of the throat of the Virginia 

 female. 



Family ICTERID^. American Starlings. 



63. DoHchonyx oryzivorus (L.) Sw. A few individuals of this species 

 were seen May 14th, by Mr. Ingersoll, in the grassy meadows along the 

 creek. 



64. Molothrus pecoris (Gm.) Sw. Abundant from the time of our 

 arrival and generally distributed. Although all its habits were quite 

 familiar, some of its notes differed very much from any that I have heard 

 at the north. One in particular a hissing z-z-zeep was quite unique, though 

 apparently universal here. 



65. Agelcms phoeniceus (L.) V. Common but restricted to the belt of 

 swampy land along the creek. Notes very different from those of our 

 Massachusetts bird and as a rule decidedly harsher. 



66. Sturnella magna (L.) Sw. Apparently not common, owing prob- 

 ably to the almost total absence of its favorite meadow land in this sec- 

 tion. 



67. Icterus sjmrius (L.) Bp. Arrived May 8th and on the succeeding 

 day several individuals were observed in the trees along the banks of the 

 creek. On the evening of our departure I heard a male in full song at 

 Laurel Junction, a station some two miles from Petroleum, where we were 

 awaiting the arrival of the eastward bound express train. The slanting 

 rays of the setting sun streaming through the gaps in the Western divide, 

 in places tinged the floating mists with a beautiful rosy hue, in others 



