THE SONGS OF BIRDS. 



can be seen in the cliewink or towhee bunting. This 

 bird keeps upon the ground nearly the whole time. Its 

 nest is always there, and its food is found under dead 

 leaves lying upon the ground. Now, while it hops about, 

 it utters, with much regularity and frequency, a double 

 chirp, which has given rise to its local name, che-wink. 

 A person might watch one of these birds for half a day 

 and never suspect that it had any song or other note 

 than the cheery che-wink, che-wink, it so frequently 

 utters. It so happens, however, that it has a moderately 

 sweet song, though it never yet was known to sing it 

 while standing upon the ground. If moved to sing, it 

 mounts upon a low bank or on the lower limb of a tree, 

 and whistles, " Chee-do ! chee-do ! tree-de-re de-re, de-re ! " 

 and then down on the ground it goes again. 



The plain meaning of this, I take it, is that the chirps 

 are not a song, nor are they intended by the bird as such, 

 but that the more elaborate notes, uttered when in a bush 

 or tree, do constitute his song, and this he sings for the 

 gratification of himself and friends. 



Again, observe two birds immediately after mating, 

 and what a laughable caricature of a newly-married cou- 

 ple say on their wedding journey are their actions and 

 their low ceaseless twittering ! They also have their 

 petty vexations and their little quarrels, in which the 

 feminine voice is ever the louder and more rapid in its 

 utterance, and its owner enjoys the precious privilege of 

 the last word. 



I have often witnessed such quarrels, and the literally 

 hen-pecked husband has always been compelled to sub- 

 mit to his tyrannical partner. If he be lazy, woe betide 

 him when nest-building commences, as it does so soon 

 after mating. His gay feathers will soon lose their 

 prim appearance, and mayhap only the fraction of a tail 



