112 SINGING BIRDS. 



ludicrous dunning phrase, as he rises and hovers on the wing 

 near his mate, " 'Bob-o-link, 'Bob-b-link, ' Tom Denny ' Tom 

 Denny. — ' Come pay me the two and six pence you 've owed 

 more than a year and a half ago! — 'tshe 'tshe 'tshe, 'tsh 'tsh 

 'tshe," modestly diving at the same instant down into the grass 

 as if to avoid altercation. However puerile this odd phrase 

 may appear, it is quite amusing to find how near it approaches 

 to the time and expression of the notes, when pronounced in 

 a hurried manner. It would be unwise in the naturalist to 

 hold in contempt anything, however trifling, which might tend 

 to elucidate the simple truth of nature ; I therefore give the 

 thing as I find it. This relish for song and merriment, con- 

 fined wholly to the male, diminishes as the period of incubation 

 advances ; and when the brood begin to flutter around their 

 parents and protectors, the song becomes less frequent, the 

 cares of the parents more urgent, and any approach to the 

 secret recess of their helpless family is deplored with urgent 

 and incessant cries as they hover fearfully around the inten- 

 tional or accidental intruder. They appear sometimes inclined 

 to have a second brood, for which preparation is made while 

 they are yet engaged in rearing the first ; but the male gen- 

 erally loses his musical talent about the end of the first week 

 in July, from which time his nuptial or pied dress begins 

 gradually to be laid aside for the humble garb of the female. 

 The whole, both young and old, then appear nearly in the 

 same songless livery, uttering only a chink of alarm when sur- 

 prised in feeding on the grass seeds, or the crops of grain 

 which still remain abroad. When the voice of the Bobolink 

 begins to fail, with the progress of the exhausting moult, he flits 

 over the fields in a restless manner, and merely utters a broken 

 ^bobUee, 'bob' lee, or with his songless mate, at length, a 'weei 

 'weet, b'leet b'leet, and a noisy and disagreeable cackUng 

 chirp. At the early dawn of day, while the tuneful talent of 

 the species is yet unabated, the effect of their awakening and 

 faltering voices from a wide expanse of meadows, is singular 

 and grand. The sounds mingle like the noise of a distant 

 torrent, which alternately subsides and rises on the breeze as 



