THE INVITATION. 223 



Beside being walkers, the larks, or birds allied to 

 the larks, all sing upon the wing, usually poised or 

 circling in the air, with a hovering, tremulous flight. 

 The meadow-lark occasionally does this in the early 

 part of the season. At such times its long-drawn note 

 or whistle becomes a rich, amorous warble. 



The bobolink, also, has both characteristics, and, 

 notwithstanding the difference of form and build, etc., 

 is very suggestive of the English skylark, as it figures 

 in the books, and is, no doubt, fully its equal as a 

 songster. 



Of our small wood-birds we have three varieties, 

 east of the Mississippi, closely related to each other, 

 which I have already spoken of, and which walk and 

 sing, more or less, on the wing, namely, the two species 

 of water-thrush or wagtails, and the oven-bird, or wood- 

 wagtail. The latter is the most common, and few 

 observers of the birds can have failed to notice its 

 easy, gliding walk. Its other lark trait, namely, sing- 

 ing in the air, seems not to have been observed by 

 any naturalist. Yet, it is a well established char- 

 acteristic, and may be verified by any person who 

 will spend a half hour in the woods where this bird 

 abounds on some June afternoon or evening. I hear 

 it very frequently after sundown, when the ecstatic 

 singer can hardly be distinguished against the sky. I 

 know of a high, bald-top mountain where I have sat 

 late in the afternoon and heard them as often as one 

 every minute. Sometimes the bird would be far below 



