86 



GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



song; the notes of the cat-bird, jay and thrasher, 

 chewink, pewee and robin, being each easily recog- 

 nized as components of the medley. 



As the clouds banked up in the west and north a 

 turtle dove cooed softly above my head. A rain crow 

 in a neighboring oak uttered his harsh refrain about 

 the rain that was sure to come. Bob-white, in a stub- 

 ble tield on the hill above, whistled &t intervals his 



Fig. 21 Southern Mocking-bird. (After Judd.) 



summer note. A yellow-breasted chat in a near-by 

 thorn tree scolded incessantly, as only a chat can scold, 

 at my intrusion on his domain ; while, blithest of all,. 

 was the song of the indigo-bun ting and the merry 

 warble of the vireos which were heard on every side. 

 Such sounds as these were uncommon here forty 

 years ago. The silence of the treeless tow-path was 

 then seldom broken except by the mule boy's "gee, 

 ga-lang there," or "git up, gol-dern ye." 



