BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
273 
may be pleased to style it, that favorably compares witb the whistling of 
the wings of a duck. Again, he produces, with wonderful exactness, the 
bark of pupj^ies ; and, as if to show his skill further, closes with the mew 
of a cat, only hoarser. These notes are produced with wonderful vehe- 
mence in several keys, and with peculiar modifications. As the voice 
apjDarently shifts from place to place, the possessor being unseen, it seems 
to be more like that of a spirit than of a bird. Near you one moment, 
the next it comes from a distance, so that by these tricks, it is not always 
possible to locate with any degree of certainty the astute ventriloquist. To 
convey in human characters this song exactly, is beyond the power of 
mortals. The following syllables express it with tolerable correctness : twi- 
wt-wt-wt-wi-wi, hwdwdlvdwavm, huh, ehl-cM-cln-ch%-chi, tweWivlvi, chiueah. 
Such herculean efforts as the foregoing are certainly deserving of 
success. Events justify the thought. A few hours at most, and his song 
receives a response. Aroused from her absorption, his true love apjjears. 
The scenes now enacted are ludicrous in the extreme. He flies about her, 
utters a few syllables of affection, and at length settles down by her side. 
His whole expression is one of intense delight. While her lord is thus 
fairly beside himself with joy, she is of a passive disposition. To one who 
is not experienced in matters pertaining to bird-life, her conduct would 
seem to betoken lukewarmness. But it is only the coyness of a modest 
female. Having won his j^rize, the happy husband leads the way into 
some secluded spot, where he lays before her his plans for the future. 
She immediately assents to them, and soon the j^ah’ are found beating in 
and out of the bushes for a home-spot. As many as two days are often 
spent in these delightful pilgrimages. At length, one is discovered which 
combines the essentialities, and a house is erected. In woods that are 
seldom desecrated by the polluting touch of wicked man, there is manifest 
but little tendency to concealment. Not so in fields which adjoin his 
retreats. Here the greatest caution is observed, the nest being built in 
some almost impenetrable bramble-patch, and so placed as to he out of 
reach of the keenest vigilance. If discovered in such a place, it is 
