410 DIVISION r. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS II. AVES. 



Almost everybody in tlie Nortli knows tlic song- of tliis liird, nnd lias laughed, 

 in .'^ijiitc of liini or herself, at the grotesque singer, as, perehed on a twi'j; in 

 tlie cherry tree by the liouse, or in the elm by the roadside, or alder by the 

 brook, he nodded his head, quivered his wings, opened his mouth, and rat- 

 tled out the most curious, incomprehensible, jingling, round-about, careless, 

 joyous, laugiiable medley that any bird throat ever uttered. 



As soon as the females arrive, they become the especial objects of atten- 

 tion with their male neighliors, and the little contentions, Imth in music and 

 something more severe, we must confess, for the possession of a favored one, 

 between the contesting suitors, are almost innumeraitle. 



The female is, at the outset, a[)parently inditlerent to the attractions of 

 any particular suitor, and, in tact, seems a little bored at all their manifes- 

 tations ; but all her indiirerence is assumed and unreal, and the cavalier who 

 can outsing and vanquish his rival, becomes the possessor of her maiden, 

 or, it may \ic, thrice-widowed atlections, "to have and to hold," until the 

 southern migration in the autumn. 



A\'h('n tlie birds are mated, usually early in June, they commence the 

 .structure in which tiieir fimily is to be reared. Selecting a thick tussock 

 of grass in a field or meadow, tiu'ough which, or near which, a brook prat- 

 tles of cool and delicious draughts, and sweet and refreshing baths, all 

 through the hot an<l dusty summer, — dusty, because of the breezes blowing 

 over the dry, sandy roads, and fields of corn, lifting and carrying along 

 with them the light, dry material on the surface near at hand, — both birds, 

 beneath the bendiiig and concealing leaves, bring and entwine fine grasses 

 and rootlets into a loose and ni>t deeply-hollowed nest, wliicii they smooth 

 and line witii softer pieces of the same material. 



Tlie position is so well chosen that, nine times out of ten, if you w.alk 

 the mcaddw over again and again, knowing it to be there, you will not dis- 

 cover tlie nest ; the male bird Hies over vour head, chiding and complaining 

 at your presence, and his mate, skurrying off through the thick grass, rises 

 away from the nest, that you may not discover its localit}'. 



The eggs, four or five in nund.)er, vary in color from a light ashy blue, 

 with spots of blackish brown, to a pale-brownish' clay, with spots and lilotches 

 of umber of different shades ; their form is usually a perfect ovate, and tliey 

 yary in dimensions from .1)0 of an inch in length by .05 of an inch in 

 breadth, to .80 of an inch in lengtli by .02 of an inch in breadth. 



As soon as the young birds are hatched, the father, hitherto fidl of song 

 and merriment, becomes more quiet, spending a great part of his time in 

 family cares. The young birds are fed on grasshoppers, crickets, and vari- 

 ous other insects : and this food is the chief sustenance of the parents as well, 

 at this period, for the seeds of the wild grasses are not yet ripened, and 



