ROADSIDE SINGERS 89 



nightingale, as it is sometimes called, is another 

 singer by the roadside. This bird is shy to a 

 degree, but he will sing near a road, a car- 

 riage-drive, or a path, warbling his rich notes 

 out. These are not all his own, for he mimics 

 other birds at least, so far as my own hearing 

 can be trusted. Thickly foliaged trees are pre- 

 ferred, where he can sit and sing to his heart's 

 content, all unseen. If a clump of trees are on 

 a lawn in front of some homestead, there you 

 will hear the bird wail it out all day long for, 

 like the hedge-sparrow, the blackcap does sing 

 at times in a wailing fashion ; in fact, so close 

 is the resemblance between these two birds at 

 times that, if you are not able to see the bird 

 that the song comes from, you could not tell 

 one from the other, and this, no doubt, is a bit 

 of the blackcap's mimicry. The bird's notes 

 are loud, clear, and rapid ; there is not a note 

 of the blackbird's song in it all, but you may 

 detect some very like those softer notes that 

 the thrush gives out at times when the evening 

 falls. 



Country quiet may have much to do with 

 impressions, so far as the strength of the 

 song of birds in relation to the smallness of 

 their bodies is concerned ; but more than once 



