BICE BUNTING. 
221 
?Uantity. The female lays live egg's, of a bluish white, 
!*'aikecf with numerous irregular spots of blackish 
“•■own. The song of the male, nhile the female is 
Sitting, is singular, and very agreeable. Mounting and 
®overing on wing, at a small height above the field, he 
t'hants out such a jingling medley of short variable 
®!>tes, uttered with such seeming confusion and rapi- 
'••ty, and continued for a considerable time, that it 
appears as if half a dozen birds of different kinds were 
singing together. Some idea may be formed of this 
Song ky striking the high keys of a piauo-forte at 
’'"•ndom, singly, and quickly, making as many sudden 
I'ontrasts of high and low notes as possible. Many of 
‘lie tones arc, in themselves, charming ; hut they suo 
’•oed each other so rapidly that the ear can hardly 
**parate them. Nevertheless the general effect is good ; 
*ud, when ten or twelve arc all singiug on the same 
Jl'ee, the concert is singularly pleasing. 1 kept one of 
•best' birds for a long time, to observe ils im.ange of 
dolour. During the whole of Aju'il, May, and .lune, it 
*|*'ig almost continually. In the month of June, the 
Colour of the male begins to change, gradually assimi- 
*ling to that of the female, and, before the beginning 
August, it is difficult to distinguish the one from the 
Uier. At this time, also, the young birds are so much 
“he the female, or rather like both parents, and the 
jh'^les so different in appearance from what they were 
” spring, that thousands of people in Pennsylvania, 
this day, persist in believing- them to he a different 
species altogether ; while otlnu-s allow them, indeed, 
“• he the same, but confidently assert that they are all 
!*>Uales — none but females, according to them, rcturn- 
**11 in the fall ; what becomes of tfie males they are 
••tally at a loss to conceive. Even Mr Mark Cateshy, 
•'ho resided for years in the country- they inhabit, and 
bo, as he himself informs us, e.\amincd by dissection 
^*at numbers of them in the fall, and repeated his 
?*periment the succeeding year, lest he should have 
••en mistaken, declares that he uniformly found them 
•• he females. These assertions must appear odd to 
