BIRDS OF THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 73 



I think Mr. Nuttall is incorrect in his description of 

 the Indigo-Bird's song. It certainly has not that variety 

 and pathos which he ascribes to it. The song is rather 

 a lively see-saw without expressing even animation. It 

 ought not to be considered plaintive. His notes are 

 sharp, not unlike those parts of the Canary's song which 

 are disagreeable. I allude to the sip, sip, sip, sip, which 

 the Canary intersperses with his more musical and roll- 

 ing notes. The whole song of the Indigo-Bird is but 

 a repetition of the sip, sip, of the Canary, modified by the 

 addition of another note, like sip-see, sip-see, sip-see, sip- 

 see, repeated four or five times very moderately, with a 

 few unimportant intervening notes. Neither has the song 

 of the Indigo-Bird so much rapidity as Nuttall ascribes to 

 it. His notes, though not slow, are but little more rapid 

 than those of the Eobin. He has the merit, however, of 

 being one of the few of our birds that sing persistently at 

 noonday. 



THE SUMMER YELLOW-BIRD. 



There is no common feature in our New England 

 domestic landscape more remarkable than the frequent 

 rows of willows which have at different times been 

 planted by the sides of roads where they pass over wet 

 meadows. The air is never sweeter, not even in a grove 

 of lindens, than the vernal breezes that are constantly 

 playing among the willows, when they are hung with 

 golden aments, and swarming with bees and butterflies. 

 Here, flitting among the soft foliage of these trees after 

 the middle of May, you will never fail to meet the little 

 Summer Yellow-Bird, whose plumage is so near the color 

 of the willow-blossoms that they almost conceal it from 

 observation. 



The Summer Yellow-Bird is one of that incomparable 

 tribe of warblers, comprehended under the general name 



