BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
243 
Late in April the large flocks dissolve into smaller ones. It is a 
common thing to see two males and one female in company, the former 
lavishing the most endearing attentions upon the latter, and both, simul- 
taneously, regaling her with the sweetest music. Thus affairs go on for 
some time, when, out of pure mischief, she selects one of the suitors, and 
just as he begins to feel his bosom glow with self-satisfied pride, she turns 
her back upon him, and flies to the other, who all the while has been 
pouring his soul away in the ecstasies of song.' These cruel flirtations are 
kept up for a couple ^f days before a final choice is effected. It seems 
to require great effort and condescension upon the part of the successful 
suitor to retain his hold upon her affections ; for she is likely to waver in 
the interval of time between mating and nidification, and give her heart to 
another. The labors of nest-building so completely engross her thouglits, 
that the tendency to flirtation has not time to manifest itself, and soon 
disappears altogether. 
The wedded couple, however, do not seem to be in much haste about 
nesting, .but ramble over the country in search of food, ever and anon, as 
though seeking rest from labor, perching upon a tree-branch, where the 
male pours into the ear of his less-favored partner, with all the impas- 
sioned eloquence of his being, the story of his love. While thus engaged, 
he is wont to turn towards the object of his affection, as if to ascertain 
the effects of his well-chosen roundelay. A low, soft note, expressed by 
the dissyllabic word twe-yah, is her only response of recognition and 
approval. The song of the male is very difficult to convey in human 
language. It is loud and clear in intonation, and rivals the variously 
modulated strains of the Canary. Like the latter he has the faculty of 
lowering and raising the voice, so that one moment the notes seem 
borne from a great distance on the wings of gently-murmuring zephyrs, 
while the very next they ring out upon the air with tenfold greater vol- 
ume of tone and intensity. In confinement he becomes exceedingly famil- 
iar and tractable, and with proper care soon becomes a valuable singer. 
A friend of ours once possessed a male which he reared from the nest. 
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