I 12 
SINGING BIRDS. 
ludicrous dunning phrase, as he rises and hovers on the wing 
near his mate, “ 'Bob-o-Iink, ’Bdi-d-link, ’ Tom Denny ’ Tom 
Denny. — ’ Come pay me the t7vb and six pence you 've owed 
more than a year and a half ago ! — ' tshe 'tshe 'tshe, ’tsh 'tsh 
'tshe,” modestly diving at the same instant down into the grass 
as if to avoid altercation. However puerile this odd phrase 
may appear, it is quite amusing to find how near it approaches 
to the time and expression of the notes, when pronounced in 
a hurried manner. It would be unwise in the naturalist to 
hold in contempt anything, however trifling, which might tend 
to elucidate the simple truth of nature ; I therefore give the 
thing as I find it. This relish for song and merriment, con- 
fined wholly to the male, diminishes as the period of incubation 
advances ; and when the brood begin to flutter around their 
parents and protectors, the song becomes less frequent, the 
cares of the parents more urgent, and any approach to the 
secret recess of their helpless family is deplored with urgent 
and incessant cries as they hover fearfully around the inten- 
tional or accidental intruder. They appear sometimes inclined 
to have a second brood, for which preparation is made while 
they are yet engaged in rearing the first ; but the male gen- 
erally loses his musical talent about the end of the first week 
in July, from which time his nuptial or pied dress begins 
gradually to be laid aside for the humble garb of the female. 
The whole, both young and old, then appear nearly in the 
same songless livery, uttering only a chink of alarm when sur- 
prised in feeding on the grass seeds, or the crops of grain 
which still remain abroad. When the voice of the Bobolink 
begins to fail, with the progress of the exhausting moult, he flits 
over the fields in a restless manner, and merely utters a broken 
'hoh'lee, dwhdee, or with his songless mate, at length, a 'weet 
'weet, Ulcet b'lect, and a noisy and disagreeable cackling 
chirp. At the early dawn of day, while the tuneful talent of 
the species is yet unabated, the effect of their awakening and 
faltering voices from a wide expanse of meadows, is singular 
and grand. The sounds mingle like the noise of a distant 
torrent, which alternately subsides and rises on the breeze as 
