THE OOLOGIST. 



199 



sing once and then only briefly; and his 

 song was surely not his best, for, to me, 

 it seemed hardly equal to that of the 

 Brown Thrasher in musical qualities. 



Soon after my raid the birds disap- 

 peared from this locality and I have 

 often regretted that I did not withstand 

 the oological impulse which caused me 

 to take that set. I have visited the 

 place many times since but have not 

 seen a Mockingbird since May, 1898. 

 The Mocker is certainly very rare here 

 and I have very little hope of seeing 

 the species in this place again. 



Arthur A. Jeffrey, 

 Indianola, Iowa. 



Performers and Sing-ers. 



There are many peculiar musicians 

 among the tribes of fur, fin and feath- 

 er. There are fishes that grunt and 

 sigh; music in their line, and there are 

 singing mice, as everyone has heard 

 about. But it is in the feathered line 

 that we find the greatest variety of mu- 

 sicians and the most entertaining per- 

 formers. Among the birds we meet 

 operatic singers, chorus jinglers, dirge 

 performers, medley constructors, and 

 as well, band performers, and single 

 performers with all the motions of real 

 players on instruments, many of which 

 are grotesque in the extreme. 



Aside from the refined musicians, as 

 theThrushes and many other small birds 

 and which we all have met with, there 

 are many species which attract us from 

 the oddity of their noises and motions, 

 and though we do not recognize their 

 efforts as music, the noises answer the 

 purpose intended for their require- 

 ments. Then it is that the hoarse 

 croak of the Raven and the gutteral ef- 

 fort of the Heron are highly appreciat- 

 ed by them as is the exquisite warble of 

 the Warbling Vireos by these delicate 

 birds. Some birds ;':,:• as they fly, 

 and this class is large, though the act- 

 ual muscians of this division, as we 



comprehend song, is small. Then 

 there are the birds which sing on the 

 nest while sitting on the eggs. But the 

 strangest musicians are the "song and 

 dance artists" in their vaudeville spec- 

 ialities. I have seen artists in this line 

 go through their performance in fine 

 style. The Prairie Hen is a model in 

 the "song and dance" style of exhibi- 

 tion, and the antics are enough to make 

 an audience laugh. The birds gather 

 in small groups on the prairies and go 

 through a kind of dance — hopping up 

 and down; scuttling about with their 

 feathers bristling, and then the cocks 

 at intervals emit a pleasing reverberat- 

 ing, booming sound, which may be 

 heard for over a mile on a still morn- 

 ing. In the intervals between the danc- 

 ing and singing there often occurs a 

 free fight, for the birds gather to in- 

 dulge in a jousting tournament for the 

 benefit of the -ladies. These meetings 

 occur in the spring when the birds mate 

 and may last for several weeks. 



In the morning the cock Prairie 

 Chicken begins tooting. This sound is 

 produced by the expansion of two sacs 

 at the sides of the head'which are inflat- 

 ed at the will of the bird, something 

 after the manner of the, bagpipe that 

 the Scotchman plays upon. The bird 

 goes through a variety of motions in 

 emitting these sounds, and in effect 

 and movements to an extent resembles 

 a performer on a wind instrument. 



Then there ai'e birds which entertain 

 as they fly, and among them the Trum- 

 peter Swan, which has a peculiar ana- 

 tomical arrangment for the better ex- 

 pression of its musical eft'orts. This 

 variation consists of a tortuous course 

 jn the windpipe, which passes in a con- 

 volution into the bony sternum. This 

 extra length and scope give great reso- 

 nance to the voice, and the result is 

 such that the star performer is called 

 the Trumpeter. With their long necks 

 stretched out to the full extent these 

 immense^ birds sweep across the coun 



