ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SONG-BIRDS. 137 



with more confidence and copiousness, and as if they, 

 too, had been touched by civilization. 



Then they sing more hours in the day, and more 

 days in the year. This is owing to the milder and 

 more equable climate. I heard the sky-lark singing 

 above the South Downs in October, apparently with 

 full spring fervor and delight. The wren, the robin, 

 and the wood-lark sing throughout the winter, and 

 in midsummer there are perhaps more vocal throats 

 than here. The heat and blaze of our midsummer 

 sun silence most of our birds. 



There are but four songsters that I hear with any 

 regularity after the meridian of summer is past, 

 namely, the indigo-bird, the wood or bush sparrow, 

 the scarlet tanager, and the red-eyed vireo, ' while 

 White names eight or nine August songsters, though 

 he speaks of the yellow-hammer only as persistent. 

 His dictum, that birds sing as long as nidification 

 goes on, is as true here as in England. Hence our 

 wood-thrush will continue in song over into August 

 if, as frequently happens, its June nest has been 

 broken up by the crows or squirrels. 



The British songsters are more vocal at night than 

 ours. White says the grasshopper lark chirps all 

 night in the height of summer. The sedge-bird also 

 sings the greater part of the night. A stone thrown 

 into the bushes where it is roosting, after it has be- 

 come silent, will set it going again. Other British 

 birds, besides the nightingale, sing more or less at 

 night. 



