C-r-r-r-r-r-- Wrrr, --that's it, --chee, --quack, cluck, --yit-yit-yit,
--now hit it, --tr-r-r-r, --when, --caw, caw, --cut, cut, --tea-boy,
--who, who, --mew, mew, --and so on till you are tired of listening.
Observing one very closely one day, I discovered that he was limited
to six notes or changes, which he went through in regular order,
scarcely varying a note in a dozen repetitions. Sometimes, when a
considerable distance off, he will fly down to have a nearer view of
you. And such curious, expressive flight,--legs extended, head lowered,
wings rapidly vibrating, the whole action piquant and droll!
The chat is an elegant bird, both in form and color. Its plumage is
remarkably firm and compact. Color above, light olive-green; beneath,
bright yellow; beak, black and strong.
The cardinal grosbeak, or Virginia redbird, is quite common in the
same localities, though more inclined to seek the woods. It is much
sought after by bird fanciers, and by boy gunners, and consequently is
very shy. This bird suggests a British redcoat; his heavy, pointed
beak, his high cockade, the black stripe down his face, the expression
of weight and massiveness about his head and neck, and his erect
attitude, give him a decided soldier-like appearance; and there is
something of the tone of the fife in his song or whistle, while his
ordinary note, when disturbed, is like the clink of a sabre.
Yesterday, as I sat indolently swinging in the loop of a grapevine,
beneath a thick canopy of green branches, in a secluded nook by a
spring run, one of these birds came pursuing some kind of insect, but
a few feet above me. He hopped about, now and then uttering his sharp
note, till some moth or beetle trying to escape, he broke down through
the cover almost where I sat. The effect was like a firebrand coming
down through the branches. Instantly catching sight of me, he darted
away much alarmed. The female is tinged with brown, and shows but a
little red except when she takes flight.
By far the most abundant species of woodpecker about Washington is the
red-headed. It is more common than the robin. Not in the deep woods,
but among the scattered dilapidated oaks and groves, on the hills and
in the fields, I hear almost every day his uncanny note, ktr-r-r,
ktr-r-r, like that of some larger tree-toad, proceeding from an oak
grove just beyond the boundary. He is a strong-scented fellow, and
very tough. Yet how beautiful, as he flits about the open w
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