160 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



•4. ■ .J. 



;|:. DICKCISSEL % 



:ii' By Isaac E. Hess, ♦ 



Ijl In the waste-field, garden, meadow, tangled brake and weedy pasture. 



-h 



Everywhere we find Diekeissel; everywhere his nest of sedge; ^ 



S. Safely sheltered in the thornA^ arms of berry-bush and briar, ^ 



li. Gently swaying with the branches of the osage-orange hedge; ^ 



7}. Hidden on the ground in meadow in the midst of clover blossoms, 4. 



^ Snugly nestling in the bosom of the prickly thistle copse; 4! 



%. Sometimes firmly fastened to the stronger branches of a weed-stalk, X 



Ij! Oftimes loosely placed in swamp grass near its treacherous waving tops. X 



Iji In the most unlooked for places little Dick constructs his nest; ^. 



^ Often most unwisely chosen is the sjaot he thinks the best. J 



4- •!♦ 



X When the mower cuts wide swaths and sweeps great paths adown the meadow Ij, 



"X And the sickle blades strew thistles and tall weeds along the way, "^ 



X There is sorrow and misfortune with the legions of Diekeissel, I^ 



X But his mourning hours are short; 'tis but the mourning of a day; '^. 



X For reverses do not mar his joj^ of living and loving; '^. 



X Reconstruction promptly follows the destruction of his nest. ^ 



X So persistently he sings to her, she cannot help adoring ^ 



S. Her brave lover of the jet-black tie and handsome yellow vest. ^> 



♦ * t 



J^ His is last of all the evening songs ; at daj'-break his is first, , % 



*t* And through daylight hours he sings until it seems his throat will burst. X 



°^ i* 



J* AVhen the sun beats down so fiercely that all nature seems a dying ^ 



J* And the morning birds are hushed and stilled beneath its burning rays, ^ 



J* When the Meadowlarks and Bobolinks their recesses are taking, ^ 



•| Are surrend'ring to the lethargy of hot mid-summer days, ,|, 



•f When the gray and dusty country roads seem spiritless — forbidding — *j^ 



-f No alleviating sounds revive and hurry us along — *^ 



•5- When the out-door life we love so well has seemingly departed, *| 



"■"f Then we hear a sprighth'^ roundelay; an animated song; --^ 



$ . • ' .[^ 



»j> And this happy fervent welcome brings relief and cheer to me; *^ 



;;^^ Blessings on the loyal songster with his Dick! Dick I chee-chee-chee ! ^ 



m phiio, 111. t 



X vi^- 



:.♦■■ ■-^' 



