age of Irving, and is the only one of
our songsters, I believe, that the mockingbird cannot parody or imitate.
He affords the most marked example of exuberant pride, and a glad,
rollicking, holiday spirit, that can be seen among our birds. Every note
expresses complacency and glee. He is a beau of the first pattern, and,
unlike any other bird of my acquaintance, pushes his gallantry to the
point of wheeling gayly into the train of every female that comes along,
even after the season of courtship is over and the matches are all
settled; and when she leads him on too wild a chase, he turns, lightly
about and breaks out with a song is precisely analogous to a burst of
gay and self-satisfied laughter, as much as to say, _"Ha! ha! ha! I
must have my fun, Miss Silverthimble, thimble, thimble, if I break every
heart in the meadow, see, see, see!"_

At the approach of the breeding season the bobolink undergoes a complete
change; his form changes, his color changes, his flight changes. From
mottled brown or brindle he becomes black and white, earning, in some
localities, the shocking name of "skunk bird;" his small, compact form
becomes broad and conspicuous, and his ordinary flight is laid aside for
a mincing, affected gait, in which he seems to use only the very tips of
his wings. It is very noticeable what a contrast he presents to his mate
at this season, not only in color but in manners, she being as shy and
retiring as he is forward and hilarious. Indeed, she seems disagreeably
serious and indisposed to any fun or jollity, scurrying away at his
approach, and apparently annoyed at every endearing word and look. It
is surprising that all this parade of plumage and tinkling of cymbals
should be gone through with and persisted in to please a creature so
coldly indifferent as she really seems to be. If Robert O'Lincoln has
been stimulated into acquiring this holiday uniform and this musical
gift by the approbation of Mrs. Robert, as Darwin, with his sexual
selection principle, would have us believe, then there must have been
a time when the females of this tribe were not quite so chary of their
favors as they are now. Indeed, I never knew a female bird of any kind
that did not appear utterly indifferent to the charms of voice and
plumage that the male birds are so fond of displaying. But I am inclined
to believe that the males think only of themselves and of outshining
each other, and not at all of the approbation of their mates