Music of the Wild 



be imitated so they answer it readily. The male 

 cries, "Pt'seet!" ami the female answei's, "Pt'see!" 

 The continuous song that they sow on the air with 

 an abandon ai^proaching the bubbling notes of the 

 bobolink, and really Jiaving more pure glee in it, 

 to my ears syllabicates, 'T^ut seed in it! Put seed 

 in it!" 



Possibly I thought of this because they are 

 always putting seed into themselves. ]Mustard. 

 tJiistle, lettuce, oyster jjlant, millet, and every gar- 

 den vegetal)le and wild weed that produces a seed, 

 in time -will bear a goldfinch singing as it s\\ays 

 and feasts. 



One of the commonest plants of the wayside. 



dignified and attractive in bloom, and wholly ar- 



Milk- tistic in seedtime, is tlie milkweed. This plant is 



inseparalilv connected in mv mind with the gold- 

 Bittersweet . , , ■ T . \ ,. . . 



finch, that depends upon it tor most of its nesting 



material, and with the monarch butterfly, the cat- 

 erpillar of which feeds uj)on the leaves. Any plant 

 that blankets a goldfinch family and nourishes a 

 butterfly is an aristocrat of the first order. In 

 touch of it grows our best-loved climber. 



Because of its elegant leaves, its stout, twining 

 stem, and briUiant and long clinging ben-ies. the 

 bittersweet is the very finest vine of the roadside. 

 In winter it outshines all others, because the hulls 

 of the yellow clusters o])en in four divisions and 

 briffht-red berry divided sometimes into 

 282 



weed and 



