WAYS OF NATURE 
open, and pouring out its jubilant, ecstatic strain. I 
think it indulges in this wing-song only in the early 
season. After the mother bird has begun sitting, the 
male circles about within earshot of her, in that 
curious undulating flight, uttering his “per-chic-o- 
pee, per-chic-o-pee,”” while the female calls back to 
him in the tenderest tones, “ Yes, lovie; I hear you.” 
The indigo-bird and the purple finch, when their 
happiness becomes too full and buoyant for them 
longer to control it, launch into the air, and sing 
briefly, ecstatically, in a tremulous, hovering flight. 
The air-song of these birds does not differ essentially 
from the song delivered from the perch, except that 
it betrays more excitement, and hence is a more 
complete lyrical rapture. 
The purple finch is our finest songster among the 
finches. Its strain is so soft and melodious, and 
touched with such a childlike gayety and plaintive- 
ness, that I think it might sound well even in a cage 
inside a room, if the bird would only sing with 
the same joyous abandonment, which, of course, it 
would not do. 
It is not generally known that individual birds of 
the same species show different degrees of musical 
ability. This is often noticed in caged birds, among 
which the principle of variation seems more active; 
but an attentive observer notes the same fact in wild 
birds. Occasionally he hears one that in powers of 
song surpassesall its fellows. I have heard a sparrow, 
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