OF EASTEKN PENNSYLVANIA. 285 



quenting our yards and gardens in company with 

 yuuco hycnialis and Spizella nionticola for the 

 crumbs and scraps whicli have been cast away by 

 the cook. It commonly associates with our 

 ordinary barn-yard fowls for its share of cracked 

 corn, broom-seed, and wheat-screenings. It de- 

 lights to build in low bushes by the sides of open 

 fields, or on the borders of thickets, and frequently 

 in depressions on the ground surmounted by tall 

 grasses. 



For weeks anterior to nidification the males 

 seek the tall tree-tops and regale us with the most 

 delicious music. Its song is heard as early as the 

 15 th of March, and continues from early morning 

 until long after sunset with scarcely an intermis- 

 sion. In the middle of the day when most other 

 species are silent and have shrunk away to the 

 refreshing shades, its song is as ardent as ever. 

 For variation and modulation of voice it is un- 

 excelled by few species. Some of its strains re- 

 call to mind the delicious symphonies of Turdus 

 iiinstelums\ and others, again, bear a close resem- 

 blance to those of Spisdla nionticola. At most 

 times its song is lively and vivacious, and occasion- 

 ally assumes a plaintive character. The Canary's 

 exceeds it in variety, but lacks its sweetness and 

 pathos. The following syllables express with 

 tolerable exactness the song of,a capital singer: — 

 tsi-tsi-tsi'£wee-ilo-tiu -lid, wha-w}j,adaaa-kc'ke-ke, 

 isi-fsl-fsi-huce-tu'nni, tsi-lsl-tsl-twd-tnrrrr, isl-tsl-tsi- 

 t'wa-turrrr, tsi-twd-twd-lwit^i-tw' . Its ordinary 



