144 SINGING BIRDS. 



peto-petd-peto. This tender call of recognition, was at length 

 answered, and continued at intervals for a minute or two ; they 

 then changed their quick call into a slower peto peto pito ; and 

 now the natural note passed into the plaintive key, sounding 

 like que-ah que-ah ; then in the same breath a jarring note like 

 that of the Catbird, and in part like the sound made by put- 

 ting the lower lip to the upper teeth, and calling 'fsk' vah, 'tsh' 

 vah. After this the call of kerry-kerry-kerry-kerry struck up 

 with an echoing sound, heightened by the hollow bank of the 

 river whence it proceeded. At length, more delicately than at 

 first, in an under tone, you hear anew, and in a tender accent, 

 peto peto peto. In the caprice and humor of our performer, 

 tied by no rules but those of momentary feeling, the expression 

 will perhaps change into a slow and iv^ peet-peet-a-peet-a-peet, 

 then a low and very rapid ker-ker-ker-ker-ker-kerry, sometimes 

 so quick as almost to resemble the rattle of a watchman. At 

 another time his morning song commences like the gentle 

 whispers of an aerial spirit, and then becoming high and clear 

 like the voice of the nightingale, he cries keeva keeva kieva 

 keeva ; but soon falling into the querulous, the day-day-day-day- 

 day-dait of the Chickadee terminates his performance Imita- 

 tive, as well as inventive, I have heard the Peto also sing 

 something like the lively chatter of the Swallow, leta-leta-leta- 

 letalit, and then vary into peto-peto-peto-peto-peto extremely 

 quick. Unlike the warblers, our cheerful Peto has no trill, or 

 any other notes than these simple, playful, or pathetic calls ; 

 yet the compass of voice and the tone in which they are 

 uttered, their capricious variety and their general effect, at the 

 season of the year when they are heard, are quite as pleasing 

 to the contemplative observer as the more exquisite notes of 

 the summer songsters of the verdant forest. 



The sound of 'whip-tom-kelly, which I heard this bird utter, 

 on the 17th of January, 1830, near Barnwell, in South Carolina, 

 is very remarkable, and leads me to suppose that the species is 

 also an inhabitant of the West India Islands, where Sloane 

 attributes this note to the Red-eyed Flycatcher ; but it is now 

 known to be the note of a tropical species, the vireo longiros- 



