90 



THE OOLOGIST. 



ians finds no mean rivals in the hermit and 

 brown thrushes and both cat-bird and robin 

 are good vocalists. Our bright little blue- 

 bird has, besides his beautiful feathers, a 

 song which thanks to his fondness for mans 

 society, we often hear. 



Even those fearless mites, the chickadees, 

 e nliven the winter forests with what Thoreau 

 calls "a silver tinkling." 



The sweet trills of the house wren finds 

 more than an equal in the exquisite songs 

 of her winter relative ; but the song of the 

 marsh wren as it darts in and out of the 

 waving rushes and marsh grass, has a great 

 charm for me. The whole family of warb- 

 lers have an ever befitting name. Chatter- 

 ing swallows and martins have a poetry of 

 motion which hardly excels that of their 

 voices. The sharp notes of the "British In- 

 vador" is unfortunately familiar, but our own 

 sparrows have, some of them great singing 

 powers, which are in the cardinals combin- 

 ed with gay plumage. The American Star- 

 lings are headed by a fine singer, the bob'o- 

 link whose summer life is so well described 

 by one of Bryant's poems, but his less mus- 

 ical notes in Autumn are often ended by the 

 crack of the fowling-piece The red-winged 

 black-bird's song is attractive to the ear, 

 aud the meadow-lark is acknowledged, by 

 Wilson, to have a sweeter voice than the 

 famous sky lark. The voices of orioles, 

 grakles and even the crows are full of inter- 

 est to the bird-lover. The saucy notes of the 

 jays and low calls of thephcebe are all sug- 

 gestive, and who cannot recall the jerky 

 voice of the king- bird as he drives his 

 enemies from the neighborhood. 



The jewel of biids, the hummer calls our 

 attention by its swiftly moving wings, while 

 the swifts, whip-poor-wills and night-hawks 

 have very decided voices. A martiel air 

 has the woodpecker with his upwright po- 

 sition, his crest and especially the roll of 

 his drum on bright spring mornings. An 

 appropriate name. "Pigeon woodpecker" 

 is given the flicker from his peculiar voice 

 when love-making. 



The kingfisher's chatter offers a contrast 

 to the cuckoos call and the hootings and 



screechings of the owl have ever been prom- 

 inent. The eagle, from the clouds leads 

 the diurnal birds of prey with his fierce 

 screaming, startling, in comparison to the 

 soft notes of pigeons and mourning doves ; 

 but still more fascinating to the sportsman 

 is the drum of the grouse and calls of wild 

 turkey, quail, wood-cock, snipe and rail. 



Among the waders the killdeer is rightly 

 named vociferous and familiar indeed is the 

 voice of the leader of that orderly triangle, 

 moving north or south according to season. 



The voices of wild ducks, mallard, teal 

 and canvass-back are followed by those of 

 the multitude of sea birds which arefmore 

 familiar to those living near the sea shore. 



Among these is the Great Auk, conspicuous 

 by its absence, except in name. 



I have mentioned a few familiar bird voices 

 but the careful observer can recall a host, 

 musical or otherwise. If our birds were pro- 

 tected as they should be there would be no 

 deploring the lack of song, by the educated 

 public and our thickets, woods and even 

 lawns would be graced by the presence of 

 these feathered musicians. I need not add, 

 collect with mercy towards our feathered 

 friends, for every true Ornithologist and 

 Oologist has their welfare at heart and they 

 chiefly have called attention to the wrongful 

 destruction of the birds. A great work has 

 been begun by the Audubon and other so- 

 cieties which I hope all of the readers of the 

 Oologist will assist in. 



A. B. F, Bennings', D. C. 



Result of Prize article competition will 

 be given iD next Oologist. 



All copy for advertisements and exchange 

 notices to be inserted in July Oologist 

 must be in by June 15th. 



We find that a few prices quoted in "Egg 

 List" of this issue are wrong; note correc- 

 tions in adv. column. 



Our Friends will do well to pay particular 

 attention to our liberal offers for obtaining 

 new subscribers to the Oologist. — Avery 

 few names will secure valuable prizes. 



