22 BIRD FRIENDS 



spoken syllables so that the bird has been named 

 from its song. In this group belong such birds as the 

 chickadee, bob-white, wood pewee, chebec, phcebe, 

 and whip-poor-will. The songs of these birds are 

 not very musical, but some are rather pleasing, as 

 that of the chickadee. No sharp line can be drawn 

 between these songs and the whistle songs men- 

 tioned in the next paragraph, as some of these sylla- 

 ble songs possess the character of a whistle. 



Whistle songs. In a third group may be placed 

 most of the remainder of the song-birds which have 

 a more or less complex song of a whistled character, 

 many of which are very musical and pleasing. 



Some songs are monotonous, like that of the chip- 

 ping sparrow; others are varied, like that of the song 

 sparrow. Some are ringing and loud, like that of the 

 Baltimore oriole; others are soft and subdued, like 

 that of the vesper sparrow. Some are unmusical, 

 like that of the phoebe; others are musical, like that 

 of the wood thrush. 



Among the birds which deserve special mention, 

 either on account of the variety or the pleasing qual- 

 ity of their notes, are the house wren, the Baltimore 

 oriole, the rose-breasted grosbeak, the catbird, the 

 brown thrasher, the goldfinch, the song sparrow, the 

 vesper sparrow, the wood thrush, the veery, and the 

 hermit thrush. 



The wren's song consists of a warble without 

 much variety, but very cheerful, and given almost 



