THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS. 19 



say, hiding himself in the low. dense undergrowth, and 

 eluding your most vigilant search, as if playing some 

 part in a game. But in July or August, if you are on 

 good terms with the sylvan deities, you may listen to 

 a far more rare and artistic performance. Your first 

 impression will be that that cluster of azalea, or that 

 clump of swamp-huckleberry conceals three or four 

 different songsters, each vying with the others to lead 

 the chorus. Such a medley of notes, snatched from 

 half the songsters of the field and forest, and uttered 

 with the utmost clearness and rapidity, I am sure you 

 cannot hear short of the haunts of the genuine mock- 

 ing-bird. If not fully and accurately repeated, there 

 are at least suggested the notes of the robin, wren, 

 cat-bird, high-hole, goldfinch, and song-sparrow. The 

 pip, pip, of the last is produced so accurately that 

 I verily believe it would deceive the bird herself; — 

 and the whole uttered in such rapid succession that it 

 seems as if the movement that gives the concluding 

 note of one strain must form the first note of the next. 

 The effect is very rich, and, to my ear, entirely unique. 

 The performer is very careful not to reveal himself in 

 the mean time ; yet there is a conscious air about the 

 strain that impresses me with the idea that my presence 

 is understood and my attention courted. A tone of 

 pride and glee, and, occasionally, of bantering jocose- 

 ness, is discernible. I believe it is only rarely, and 

 when he is sure of his audience, that he displays his 

 parts in this manner. You are to look for him, not in 



