NEAR VIEWS OF WILD LIFE 



them. I would not exchange the old dead plum- 

 tree that stands across the road in front of my lodge 

 for the finest living plum-tree in the world. It 

 bears a perpetual crop of birds. Of course the 

 strictly sylvan birds, such as the warblers, the 

 vireos, the oven-bird, the veery and hermit 

 thrushes, do not come, but many kinds of other 

 birds pause there during the day and seem to enjoy 

 the unobstructed view. 



All the field and orchard and grove birds come. 

 In early summer the bobolink perches there, then 

 tiptoes, or tip-wings, away to the meadows below, 

 pouring out his ecstatic song. The rose-breasted 

 grosbeak comes and shows his brilliant front. The 

 purple finch, the goldfinch, the indigo bunting, the 

 bluebird, the kingbird, the phoebe-bird, the great 

 crested flycatcher, the robin, the oriole, the chick- 

 adee, the high-hole, the downy woodpecker, the 

 vesper sparrow, the social sparrow, or chippy, pause 

 there in the course of the day, and some of them 

 several times during the day. Occasionally the 

 scarlet tanager lights it up with his vivid color. 



But more than all it is the favorite perch of a song 

 sparrow whose mate has a nest not far off. Here 

 he perches and goes through his repertoire of three 

 or four different songs from dawn till nightfall, 

 pausing only long enough now and then to visit his 

 mate or to refresh himself with a little food. He 

 repeats his strain six times a minute, often preening 



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