A BIRD MISCELLANY 157 



very likely the male was watching me narrowly all the 

 while from a safe hiding-place in the dense foliage of 

 some tree not far away. 



My friend told me that I would not be able to dis- 

 tinguish the song of the lazuli from those of the summer 

 and mountain warblers. We shall see whether he was 

 right. One evening I was searching for a couple of blue 

 grosbeaks at the border of Colorado Springs, where I 

 had previously seen them, when a loud, somewhat per- 

 cussive song, much like the summer warbler's, burst on 

 my ear, coming from a clump of willow bushes hard by 

 the stream. At once I said to myself, " That is not the 

 summer warbler's trill. It resembles the challenging 

 song of the indigo-bird, only it is not quite so loud and 

 defiant. A lazuli finch's song, or I am sadly astray ! 

 Let me settle the question now." 



I did settle it to my great satisfaction, for, after no 

 little effort, I succeeded in obtaining a plain view of the 

 elusive little lyrist, and, sure enough, it proved to be 

 the lazuli finch. Metaphorically I patted myself with 

 a great deal of self-complacency, as I muttered : " The 

 idea of Mr. Aiken's thinking I had so little discrimina- 

 tion ! I know that hereafter I shall be able to detect 

 the lazuli's peculiar intonations every time." So I 

 walked home in a very self-confident frame of mind. 

 A few days later I heard another song lilting down 

 from the upper branches of a small tree. " Surely that 



