118
THE TOST SHORE.
u they are apt to pick up notes entirely foreign to
the aim they have learned and inject them into the
aflat of the song in a very unharmonious and laugh
able way. This bird is a great favorite with fanciers.
The male ia a little over six inches in length. Its
bill (a a deep, ihining black, the top of the head, the
chin, wingi and tail are black, with white tips on the
wing; the back and base of the neck are elate gray,
often having a roseate hoe, and the sides of the head,
throat, breaat and abdomen are a light red with a
alight chestnut tinge.
Not the leaiit musical of these newcomers is the
skylark (riWi nrmwix, .), a field bird which will
probably bo the least familiar to the denizens of the
city of them alL On the contrary, so rapidly does
tho lark multiply, it will be as familiar a sight in the
country as tho present field or meadow lark, to which
it is closely allieL In fact, the Germans so call it,
their name for tho bird being fvhllcrchc. From early
in tho spring until late in the fall the sweet song of
tho lark ia hoard, as the bird darts skyward or flutters
high up in the air. Its notes are strong and full and
can bo distinctly heard when the singer has become
a mero ipeck in the sky. It seldom sings eicept
when in flight Larks are a good table bird, and
thousand, of them are sent to market, but they mul
tiply to rapidly that their numbers remain undimin
ished even in such a thickly-settled country as En
gland. In color tho skylark is of varying shades of
brown, mingled with white and an occasional tinge of
yellow. Tho aMoraon is a yellowish white. The
starling (ifumuj vuhjnrit, L)0t snr, is a handsome
bird with dark mottled feathers and a long, bright
yellow leak. They ansemble in great flocks in low
marshy district, and seem to bo regularly organized
under tho command of one of their number, whose
voico they obey with a promptness and concert of ac
tion that is marvelous, A vast cloud of these birds
losing overhead and darkening tho sky, will sudden
ly beoomo almost invisible by tho instantaneous turn
mg of each bird on hi. sido, thus presenting to the
cyo only ;tho Mge ;of the wings. Flocks will separat
msion, will wWl with tho greatest accL
will unite again, and execute other maneuvers with
mihUry precise Starling, are easily tameTa
Income amusing pet, being Imirablo talkers d
corning to pfik vord, M
The .inging quail (,W1nil ,,, ;
MhMimhe, i. cicely allied to the Yir?.
It is a great game bird in Kurot and i.
! aetUvl by the thousand. durinV J fTl
nations. Quail. -jgftK
prcMe the female, by severaU
quently falling a prey to the sportsman in greater
numbtrs than the gentler sex. They are polygamous,
in their domestio life, and the males fight fierce bat.
ties for the possession of their harems. In this re.
spect they resemble the barn yard fowl, and are ver?
pugnacious and courageous. In some countries they
are trained for fighting the same as game fowls. It
closely resembles the Virginia quail in form and col.
or, the chief difference being light streaks of white
on the neck and back and a browner tint on the ab
domen and breast In size it is somewhat smaller
than the " bob white," but the probabilities are that
people generally would fail to notice the difference
between these American and German cousins.
Of the birds contributed by the Alpine club, the
most important, and one that will, no doubt, become
the best known, is the celebrated mocking bird of the
south. It is universally acknowledged as one of the
most wonderful of feathered songsters, and it cot
only possesses a remarkable voice and song of its
own, but is endowed with powers of imitation of the
songs of other birds that none of its rivals can equal
Nor is this a matter of education, for it can instantly
repeat the notes of a strange bird with astonishing
exactness of tone. This bird (mimus pohjgbtius)
seems to consider Mason & Dixon's line the boundary
of his dominions, seldom being seen north of Ken
tucky, Missouri and Kansas. Not only will it imitate
the notes of other birds, but the voices of animals
and men as well, and even mimics the sound of ma
chinery and any other curious noise it may hear. In
its imitations it not only deceives the sportsman but
other birds as well, wooing some of them by piping
the love notes of their mates, or frightening othen
by uttering the shrill cries of birds of prey. It
fiercely fights for the defence of its young, and many
a black snake, its worst enemy, while endeavoring to
feast upon its eggs, has been savagely attacked and
killed by the dauntless bird. Rearing mocking birdi
is a diflicult task, and an adult male bird, well do
mesticated, is valued highly. In color it is a doll
brown, the whole under part of the body being paler
and inclining to gray, and the wings and tail miied
white and dark brown.
One of the prettiest of all is the bob-o-link, or
bob-lmkum (dolichonyx aryzivorus), known also ai
the rice troopial, rice bird, rice bunting and reed
bird. It ranges all the Atlantio states, spending ita
winters in the West Indies and tropical portions of
the mainland. Its song is very peculiar and varies
greatly in character. Its ordinary cry is simple and
unharmonioua, but its love song, with which it wood
iw mate, is one of the sweetest and most wonderful
uttered by a feathered throat, its rapidly-uttered
notes harmonizing like the united voices of several
I