RED-WINGED BLACK-BIRD. 
171 
in the morning and evening before retiring to or leaving the 
roost ; previous to settling themselves for the night, and 
before parting in the day, they seem all to join in a gene- 
ral chorus of liquid warbling tones, which would be very 
agreeable but for the interruption of the plaints and jarring 
sounds with which it is blended. They continue to feed in 
small parties in swamps and by slow streams and ponds till 
the middle or close of April, when they begin to separate 
in pairs. Sometimes, however, they appear to be partly 
polygamous, like their cousins the Cow Troopials, as amids 
a number of females engaged in incubation, but few of 
the other sex appear associated with them ; and as among 
the Bobolinks, sometimes two or three of the males may 
be seen in chase of an individual of the other sex, but 
without making any contest or show of jealous feud with 
each other, as a concubinage rather than any regular 
mating seems to prevail among the species. 
Assembled again in their native marshes, the male 
perched upon the summit of some bush surrounded by 
water, in company with his mates, now sings out, at short 
intervals, his guttural kong-quer-ree, sharply calls tftsheah , 
or, when disturbed, plaintively utters ; ttshay ; to which 
his companions, not insensible to these odd attentions, 
now and then return a gratulatory cackle or reiterated 
chirp, like that of the native Meadow Lark. As a pleas-? 
ant and novel, though not unusual accompaniment, per- 
haps the great Bull Frog elevates his green head and brassy 
eyes from the stagnant pool, and calls out in a loud and 
echoing bellow, ’w’rroo, J warroo , ’ worrdrroo , J boaroo , 
which is again answered, or, as it were, merely varied, by 
the creaking or cackling voice of his feathered neighbours. 
This curious concert, uttered as it were from the still 
and sable waters of the Styx, is at once both ludicrous 
and solemn. About the end of April or early in May § 
