562 



BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



is their charming soug, and the wonderful soaring action during its 

 deliver^'. The music is heard only during a brief period— in the love 

 season, when the birds are mating and nesting; at other times they 

 have only the sibilant chirp already noted. The bird soars on high till 

 it is but a speck in the blue ether, even until it is lost to view, and then 

 the matchless song descends as if from another world, while its inde- 

 scribable effect is heightened by the monotonous and often dreary sur- 

 roundings of the scene. The song continues with scarcely an inter- 

 mission for several minutes, before the little performer, setting his wings, 

 glides quietly back to his humble home in the grass; and when, as often 

 happens, several are singing within hearing of each other, the whole air 

 seems filled with melody, and vibrating in accord with the harmonious 

 strains. Such concerts as these, to which I have listened for nearly a 

 month together, are among the most delicious pieces of bird-melody to 

 be heard anywhere, and their memory is to me one of the choicest of 

 the many pleasurable experiences that have been mine in the years I 

 have devoted to my favorite pursuits. 



List of specimens. 



