DESERT TRUMPETER BULLFINCH. 85 



in sixmmer between the parched and bleached yellow 

 stones; and here and there at wide intervals the low 

 bushes of. the taybayba, (Euphorbia balsamifera,) or 

 the thorny prenanthes, only eaten by the dromedary, 

 spring up. Here the Trumpeter lives— a Bullfinch with 

 the manners of a Stonechat. It is always found in 

 sociable little groups, when the cares of the breeding- 

 season do not keep it solitary. The cheerful little bird 

 dances from stone to stone, or glides about near the 

 ground, but seldom can our sight follow it far into the 

 landscape, for the reddish grey feathers of the old bird 

 mix as closely with the colours of the stones and leafless 

 stems and twigs of Euphorbia, as the isabelle of the 

 young does with the pale yellow of the sand or 

 chalk. 



We should soon lose it if its voice, which is one of 

 its most striking peculiarities, did not guide us to it. 

 Listen! A note like that of a small trumpet trembles 

 through the air, and vibrates continuously; and if we 

 are very attentive we shall hear just before and just 

 after it two gentle light notes ringing like silver bells 

 through the still desert, or the almost imperceptible 

 chords of an harmonium played by unseen hands. Again 

 it changes, and this time its notes resemble the deep 

 croak of the green frog of the Canaries, but less coarse, 

 hastily repeated one after another, and which the little 

 bird will itself answer with almost similar but weaker 

 sounds, like a ventriloquist, as though they came from 

 the far distance. Nothing is more difficult than to des- 

 cribe in language the notes of birds. They must be 

 heard to be appreciated, and no one would expect to 

 hear so remarkable a song from a bird in such a locality. 

 The above trumpet-like tones often ending in a succes- 

 sion of crowing and humming, distinguishes the habitat 



