THE BIRDS THAT JVE SEE, 
771 
birds lie is describing. The hrst stanza 
is as follows : 
“A flock of merry singing-birds were sporting- 
in the grove. 
Some were warbling cheerily, and some were 
making love. 
There were Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Win- 
terseeble, Conqnedle, 
A livelier set were never led by tabor, pipe, 
or fiddle: 
Crying, ‘Phew, shew, Wadolincon; see, see, 
Bobolincon 
Down among the tickle-tops, hiding in the 
buttercups; 
I know the saucy chap ; I see his shining cap 
Bobbing in the clover there,—see, see, see.’ ” 
Of course the bobolink’s chief name 
was suggested by his chief peculiarity, 
his song ; but another, skunk-blackbird, 
alludes to the skunk-like color and jiat- 
tern of his dress, and in the others, mead- 
owwink, reed-bird, rice-bird, troopial, we 
have a brief summary of his habits, as a 
meadow-singer in June, a marsh resi¬ 
dent in August, a rice-eater in Septem¬ 
ber, and, in the muter, a bird that habit¬ 
ually hies in great troops or flocks. 
In crossing toward the haunts of the 
bobolink we may spring the meadow lark 
[p. 772], another of the famed starlings. 
As he flies, he seems a large, thickset 
gray bird, with a short tail, edged with 
white, and a fashion of flaj^ijing and 
sailing by turns, as he moves straight 
away. He is as large as a quail, and so 
plump that many regard him as a game- 
bird. He has a trick of always present¬ 
ing his back, so that he may be seen 
alive many times before discovering 
that his breast is of an intensely golden- 
yellow, with a beautiful black crescent 
in the middle. His loud whistle from 
the distant fence-post, whither he be¬ 
takes himself, is like “ et se dee ah ” oft- 
repeated at inteiwals. 
But another starling now flies over¬ 
head at a considerable height, pure 
black he seems to be, and his note is a 
single shrill whistle. This is the red¬ 
wing [p. 773]. Away over the meadow 
he flies, straight to the distant swamp, 
where cat-tails, willows, and water com¬ 
bine to make a sort of final refuge and 
moated castle of birds. Pure ])lack he 
appeared as he flew, l)ut, now, at home, 
on some mllow-l^ranch in sight of his 
brown-streaked mate, he shows a new 
feature — the blazing scarlet j^atch of 
feathers on the bend of each wing, and 
as he amorously struts before his lady¬ 
love, he is at no little pains to dis 2 )lay 
it to the best advantage. 
The meadow lark builds its nest on 
the ground, and roofs it over with bent 
grass ; but the redwing, or soldier-black¬ 
bird, must, of course, have an entirely 
new manner of life, and, away out on 
the frog- 2 )ond, out of the reach of snaj^- 
2 )ing-turtles and small l)oys, he selects a 
bunch of 2 )rojecting twigs, and among 
them he susjjends the neat, strongly 
woven basket that is the cradle of his 
brood. 
His habits and notes, too, are entirely 
his own. With fluttering wings and 
tail he j^oses in front of his inamorata, 
swelling out and raising uj) his bright 
jDlumes until he a^Dj^ears to be envel- 
o 2 )ed in scarlet, and gurgles out a gut- 
The Tanager—an Indian Legend 
tural “Look at me I ” with the accent on 
the me. But the earnest jDrayer and 
imj)ressive attitude of the sj^eaker seem 
alike thrown away on the female, who, 
with an incredible amount of uncon¬ 
cern, goes quietly about her business as 
though she were alone; nevertheless, 
subsequent events would indicate that 
her ajjathy was entirely assumed, for in 
due course the nest is filled with the 
growing fledglings and her loving solici¬ 
tude for their welfare abundantly attests 
the joy and ju’ide she feels in her off- 
