52 
BIRDS 
search, as if playing some part in a game. 
But in July or August, if you are on good 
terms with the sylvan deities, you may 
listen to a far more rare and artistic per¬ 
formance. Your first impression will be 
that that cluster of Azalea or that clump 
of Swamp-Huckleberry conceals three or 
four different songsters, each vying with 
the others to lead the chorus. Such a 
medley of notes, snatched from half the 
songsters of the field and forest, and 
uttered with the utmost clearness and 
rapidity, I am sure you cannot hear short 
of the haunts of the genuine Mocking- 
Bird. If not fully and accurately repeat¬ 
ed, there are at least suggested the notes 
of the Robin, Wren, Cat-Bird, High-Hole, 
Goldfinch, and Song-Sparrow. The pip, 
pip, of the last is produced so accurately 
that I verily believe it would deceive the 
bird herself,—and the whole uttered in 
such rapid succession that it seems as if 
the movement that gives the concluding 
note of one strain must form the first 
note of the next. The effect is very rich, 
and, to my ear, entirely unique. The per¬ 
former is very careful not to reveal him- 
