square tail and say 'sip, sip, sip — your 

 tea,' " said Alice. "Now please don't 

 say I'm addicted to the 'beverage that 

 cheers but not inebriates.' " 



''No, no, we won't say that of you or 

 of Aunt Jane either, if she will please 

 tell us as many bird colloquialisms as 

 she can recall." 



"Certainly," Aunt Jane responded 

 readily. "I'm always glad to be allowed 

 to say anything about my little favor- 

 ites. There is the bluebird, rightly call- 

 ed the standard bearer of the spring- 

 brigade, who calls 'dearee, dearee — me,' 

 as if he were very sorry that for the 

 present he had left his mate behind 

 awaiting fairer weather. 



"The preacher .bird, the vireo, gives 

 an appropriate little sermon when he 

 asks, 'You see it? You know it. Do you 

 hear me? Do you believe it?' 



"The white-eyed vireo says, 'who are 

 you, eh?' and then makes an odd little 

 speech which sounds like 'ginger beer 

 quick,' or, as some hear it, 'Chick-ty 

 beaver timber stick.' 



"Bobolink sings a different song in 

 different places. Sometimes he says, 

 'be true to me, Classy, be true to me' 

 again, 'kick your slipper,' or his Indian 

 'quonqueedle, quonqueedle,' or, 'bobo- 

 linkum.' Farmers fancy he gives the di- 

 rection for planting corn, crying 'dig a 

 hole,' 'put it in,' 'cover it up,' 'stamp 

 upon it,' 'step along.' The Mary- 

 land yellowthroat says, 'which way, 

 sir,' so plainly one feels like answering 

 the inquiry. 



"The cardinal grosbeak — I saw fif- 

 teen of them on a wild crab yesterday" 

 — interrupted John, "calls 'what cheer,' 

 and sometimes 'hurry, hurry, hurry' in 

 excited tone. That beautiful bird, the 



indigo bunting sings very fast 'July 

 July, summer's here ; merry moon-tide 

 evening list to me,' while the veery 

 bleats out 'ba-ah-ah,' also cries 'titaree' 

 and 'wheah.' The hermit thrush, 

 sweetest of singers, says 'ah-re-oo-oo.' " 



"I know a little song sparrow," said 

 Howard, "that cries quite plainly, 'pres- 

 pres-pres-by-te-rian.' " 



"The sparrows are not as a rule fine 

 song birds. The best of them may be 

 called only ballad singers if we except 

 the grosbeak. But I admire," said Aunt 

 Jane, "the song of the meadow lark 

 with his sweet 'Spring o' the year,' 

 'Spring o' the year,' and 'you can't see 

 me,' which he calls so plainly the young 

 child hears and repeats the phrase." 



"I wonder," interrupted Alice, "if 

 birds do not sing when idle and talk 

 when busy. I've often heard the male 

 sing for his sitting mate." 



"I must tell you what I saw," said 

 Edith. "Sir Woodpecker did not try to 

 speak himself, but he did try to make 

 the telephone talk. He shook it with his 

 bill several times, stopping each time 

 as if to listen." 



"And I," ^aid John, "heard the brown 

 thrasher say, 'Go away do, go away do,' 

 as if he feared I might interrupt his 

 home building. 



"You must i;ever forget," said Aunt 

 Jane, "that such seeming remarks on 

 the part of the birds are purely acciden- 

 tal, but it is always a temptation to give 

 their chatter a human meaning. No 

 doubt they understand each other 

 the poet well says 



"What friend to friend cannot convey, 

 Shall the dumb bird untutored say?" 



Belle Paxson Drury. 



and 



203 



