Brewster on Soift/ier?/ Birds. 99 



The male always sings from an elevated perch, usually a 

 dead twig close to the trunk of a southern pine. He sits per- 

 . fectly motionless and is unaccountabh' hard to see. I have often 

 stood directly beneath one for several minutes, vainly straining 

 mv eyes in the direction from whence the sound came, and perhaps 

 finally discovered him within ten feet of my head in plain view. 

 The ventriloquous character of many of his notes increases this 

 difficulty. If disturbed in the midst of his song, he pitches to 

 the ground beneath and at once seeks shelter in the grass. 



Another characteristic inhabitant of these grassy openings was 

 the Meadow Lark. It was much tamer than our northern bird, 

 and its notes had a wild, ringing inflection that harmonized well 

 with the surroundings. 



In the thicker groves I often heard the voice of the Summer 

 Tanager {Pyraitga cestiva^. His song is rich, flowing, and not 

 unlike that of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, although some of its 

 notes recall those of the Robin. The call-note used by both 

 sexes is a pecidiar chuck'I-chuckl''7it. The bright colors of the 

 male make him a conspicuous object among the branches of the 

 southern pine which, at least in Georgia, is his favorite tree. 



The Yellow-throated Warbler also was sure to be met with in 

 these walks. His song to my ear has a far-a-wa\ sound, even 

 when the bird is near at hand. It is simple and monotonous, 

 but nevertheless sweet and plaintive. This bird has all the habits 

 of the Pine \\ arl^ler, with which it often associates. 



A totally dirterent phase of bird-life was presented when, as was 

 often tlie case. I visited the plantations. The flelds themselves 

 rarely oflered an\thing more attractive than Yellow-winged 

 Sparrows. Grass Finches and, late in April, migratory troops of 

 Bobolinks that settled among the last year's weeds for a moment 

 before resuming their northward journey with rollicking snatches 

 of song. But the fence corners and similar neglected places 

 around the outskiits of the cultivated lands were filled with 

 bushes over whicli trailed Cherokee roses, trumpet-vines and 

 other luxuriant creepers. In these places I was sure to find 

 Mockingbirds, Cardinals, Catbirds, Brown Thrushes. White-eyed 

 Vireos and the brilliant little Painted Buntings. 



Next to the always self-assertive Mockingbird the White-eyed 

 Vireo ^\•as perhaps the most conspicuous inhabitant of such 

 thickets. Not that he was often seen, but at almost any time of 



