AMERICAN STARLING OR MEADOW LARK. 
149 
ing and affected pronunciation of et se dee ah, and pse- 
dee etsllio , or tax sedilio in a slow, wiry tone, and sometimes 
differently varied and shortened. The same simple ditty 
is repeated in the spring, when they associate in 
pairs ; the female also, as she rises or descends, at this 
time, frequently gives a reiterated guttural chirp, or hur- 
ried twitter like that of the female Red-winged Black- 
bird. I have likewise at times heard them utter notes 
much more musical and vigorous, not very unlike the fine 
tones of the Sky-Lark, which 
u Shrill-voiced and loud, the messenger of morn, 
Ere yet the shadows fly, [high] mounted, sings 
Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 
Calls up the tuneful nations,” 
but I can by no means compare our lisping songster with 
that blithe “ harbinger of day .’ 7 There is a monotonous 
affectation in the song of our Lark, which appears indeed 
somewhat allied to the jingling though not unpleasant 
tune of the Starling.* The Stare, moreover, had the 
faculty of imitating human speech, (which ours has not, 
as far as we yet know,) and could indifferently speak 
even French, English, German, Latin, and Greek, or any 
other language within his hearing, and repeat short phra- 
ses, so that “ f I can’t get out , I can’t get out ’ says the 
Starling,” which accidentally afforded Sterne such a 
beautiful and pathetic subject for his graphic pen, was 
probably no fiction. 
At the time of pairing our Lark exhibits a little of the 
jealous disposition of his tribe, and, having settled the 
dispute which decides his future condition, he retires from 
his fraternity, and, assisted by his mate, selects a thick 
tuft for the reception of his nest, which is pretty compact, 
* Sturnus pisitat ore, isitat , pisistrat , was the cry of the Stare to the ears of the 
Romans. 
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