140 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



THE BIRD WITH THE STAMMERING TONGUE. 



Drive along the country roads or ramble through 

 the fields of the agricultural regions of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley at any time during May, June and July 

 and you cannot fail to make the acquaintance of this 

 songster. From hedge-row, fence or weed-stalk, he 

 will welcome you into his domain. He is rather a 

 trustful little fellow, and as you ap- 

 proach he will look at you, throw him- 

 self into his conventional attitude, stiff- 

 ly erect, and introduce himself as Dick 

 Cissel. In his frantic endeavors to be 

 cordial, he goes through the 

 ceremony of introduction too 

 rapidly for clear enunciation; 

 his speech becomes faltering 

 and he stammers forth his 

 name, "Dick -Dick- Cissel, 

 "Dick-Cis-Cissel. Dick-Dick- 

 Cis-Cissel." Sometimes he 

 utters "Dick Cissel" without 

 a halt and, perhaps, if the old 

 adage, "Practice makes per- 

 fect," holds good, Dick may 

 yet overcome the impedi- 

 ment in his delivery — who 

 knows? The Dickcissel 

 {Spiza americana) is indeed 

 an incessant songster during 

 the breeding season. He is 



an early riser and from dawn RLACK^-tHROATED BUNTING, 



till close of day his notes are wafted across the meadows; the noonday 

 sun that hushes most bird voices has no effect on him, for perched 

 along the dusty road-side he repeats his simple strain under its hottest 

 rays, and his metallic voice sometimes breaks the stillness of the night, 

 as he wakes from startled dreams to tell his name. Although his song 

 is unmusical and monotonous to human ears, no doubt to his little 

 mate upon her nest, tucked away near by, it sounds sweeter than the 

 voice of the thrush. The Dickcissel belongs to the great finch family 

 and'is a bird of the prairies and loves the hay-fields and the grassy pas- 

 tures. He is the constant com]Danion in the summer of the Meadow 

 J^ark and resembles him in general coloring, which accounts for his 



