28 MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS 



guttural performance with its throat — though ap- 

 parently emanating from a gastric source — which 

 some ornithologists dignify by the name of "song." 

 But it is safe to affirm that with this vocal re- 

 source alone to recommend him he or his kind 

 would scarcely have been known to fame. The 

 bird has yet another lay, however, which has 

 made it notorious. Where is the nest of song- 

 sparrow, or Maryland yellow-throat, or yellow war- 

 mer, or chippy, that is safe from the curse of the 

 jow-bird's blighting visit ? 



And yet how few of us have ever seen the bird 

 to recognize it, unless perchance in the occasional 

 flock clustering about the noses and feet of brows- 

 ing kine and sheep, or perhaps perched upon 

 their backs, the glossy black plumage of the 

 males glistening with iridescent sheen in the 

 sunshine. 



" Haow them blackbirds doos love the smell o' 

 thet caow's breath !" said an old dame to me once 

 in my boyhood. "I don't blame um: I like it 

 myself." Whether it was this same authority 

 who was responsible for my own similar early 

 impression I do not know, but I do recall 

 the surprise at my ultimate discovery that it 

 was alone the quest of insects that attracted the 

 birds. 



