BROWN 
strain. I think it indulges in this wing- 
song only in the early season. After the 
mother bird has begun sitting, the male 
circles about within ear-shot of her, in that 
curious undulating flight, uttering his « per- 
chic-o-pee, per-chic-o-pee,» while the female 
calls back to him in the tenderest tones, 
« Yes, lovie; I hear you.» The indigo-bird and 
the purple finch, when their happiness be- 
comes too full and buoyant for them longer 
to control, launch into the air, and sing 
briefly, ecstatically, in a tremulous, hovering 
flight. The air-song of these birds does not 
differ essentially from the song delivered 
from the perch, except that it betrays more 
excitement, and hence is a more complete 
lyrical rapture. 
726 
THRASHER. 
The purple finch is our finest songster 
among the finches. Its strain is so soft and 
melodious, and touched with such a childlike 
gaiety and plaintiveness, that I think it 
might even sound well in a cage inside a 
room, if it would only sing with the same 
joyous abandonment, which, of course, it 
would not do. 
It is not generally known that individual 
birds of the same species show different de- 
erees of musical ability. This is often noticed 
in caged birds, among which the principle of 
variation seems more active; but an atten- 
tive observer notes the same fact in wild 
birds. Occasionally he hears one that in 
powers of song surpassesall its fellows. Ihave 
heard asparrow, oriole,andwood-thrush, each 
