lOO Brewster on Southern Birds. 



the da} one might hear his emphatic, jerkv little strain, coming 

 from half-a-dozen points at once. I noticed that the note varied 

 considerably from that which we hear in New England, and, 

 moreover, scarceh- two of the southern birds sang exactly alike. 

 Some individuals even seemxd to have a talent for mimicry. One 

 that I remember imitated the note of the Loggerhead Shrike so 

 closely that I was completely deceived. The nest of this bird 

 is a wonderfully delicate and beautiful structure. One that I got 

 at St. Mary's contained its complement of four eggs on April 

 26. I discovered it twelve days previouslv when the birds were 

 busilv employed on the framework. The male took an equal 

 part in this task and it was amusing to see him try to sing with 

 his bill full of moss or bark. 



The Painted Buntings or Nonpareils, as they are universally 

 called by the townsj^eople, arrived April 23 and through the re- 

 mainder of the month were abmulant. I used to find them in 

 flocks about the openings where thev spent much of their time on 

 the ground. They were timid rather than shy, flying to the thick- 

 ets upon the slightest alarm, but when once conscious of being 

 pursued, it was difiicult to get a shot at one. The brilliant plumage 

 of the adult male makes him a conspicuous object either on the 

 ground or in green foliage, but it is no easv matter to see one 

 among the flowers of the trumpet-vine where they often seek ref- 

 uge, apparently fully conscious of the protection aflbrded by the 

 clusters of scaidet blossoms. The young males during the first 

 N'ear are colored precisely like the females. They sing, and for 

 aught I know, breed, while in this condition. The song is a low, 

 pleasing warble very un-Finch-like in character. I should com- 

 pare it to that of the Canada Flycatcher, but the notes are less 

 emphatic, though equally disconnected. The bird almost inva- 

 riably sings in the depths of some thicket, and its voice ceases 

 at the slightest noise. Both sexes have a sharp chirp of alarm 

 which closely resembles that of the Indigo Finch. IMost of the 

 Nonpareils left St. Mary's by May i, but a few pairs remained up 

 to the time of my departure, when thev were apparently preparing 

 to breed. Another familiar inhabitant of these thickets \\ as the 

 Towhee Bunting. Two distinct races of this bird were to be met 

 with during the same walk, but never, so for as my observation 

 went, actually in compam . The Red-eved or northern foim. cry- 

 throphtJialnnis j^roper. apparently occurred only as a winter 



