APRIL 103 



largely on ants and crickets, and does not appear till 

 they are to be found. 



In Solomon's description of spring, the voice of 

 the turtle is prominent, but our turtle, or mourning 

 dove, though it arrives in April, can hardly be said 

 to contribute noticeably to the open-air sounds. Its 

 call is so vague, and soft, and mournful, — in fact, 

 so remote and diffused, — that few persons ever hear 

 it at all. 



Such songsters as the cow blackbird are noticeable 

 at this season, though they take a back seat a little 

 later. It utters a peculiarly liquid April sound. 

 Indeed, one would think its crop was full of water, 

 its notes so bubble up and regurgitate, and are de- 

 livered with such an apparent stomachic contraction. 

 This bird is the only feathered polygamist we have. 

 The females are greatly in excess of the males, and 

 the latter are usually attended by three or four of 

 the former. As soon as the other birds begin to 

 build, they are on the qui vive, prowling about like 

 gypsies, not to steal the young of others, but to 

 steal their eggs into other birds' nests, and so shirk 

 the labor and responsibility of hatching and rearing 

 their own young. As these birds do not mate, and 

 as therefore there can be little or no rivaby or com- 

 petition between the males, one wonders — in view 

 of Darwin's teaching — why one sex should have 

 brighter and richer plumage than the other, which 

 is the fact. The males are easily distinguished 

 from the dull and faded females by their deep 

 glossy-black coats. 



