PLEASANT OUTINGS 267 



alive with savannas, especially in the irrigated portions. 

 I wonder how many millions of them dwelt in this vast 

 Eden of green almost twice as large as the State of 

 Connecticut ! The little cocks were incessant singers, 

 their favorite perches being the wire fences, or weeds 

 and grass tufts in the pastures. Their voices are weak, 

 but very sweet, and almost as fine as the sibilant buzz 

 of certain kinds of insects. The pretty song opens with 

 two or three somewhat prolonged syllables, running 

 quite high, followed by a trill much lower in the scale, 

 and closes with a very fine, double-toned strain, delivered 

 with the rising inflection and a kind of twist or jerk 

 " as if, 11 say my notes, " the little lyrist were trying to 

 tie a knot in his aria before letting it go." More will 

 be said about these charming birds before the end of 

 this chapter. 



The western meadow-larks were abundant in the park, 

 delivering with great gusto their queer, percussive 

 chants, which, according to my notes, " so often sound 

 as if the birds were trying to crack the whip." The 

 park was the only place above the plains and mesas 

 where I found these gifted fluters, with the exception 

 of the park about Buena Vista. It would appear that 

 the narrow mountain valleys, green and grassy though 

 they are, do not appeal to the larks for summer homes ; 

 no, they seem to crave " ampler realms and spaces " in 

 which to spread their wings and chant their dithyrambs. 



