t such is not
his ordinary habit, while sweeping in a circle or ellipse is the
favorite pastime of the eastern bobolink. The ascent of neither bird is
very high. They are far from deserving the name of skylarks.

We must give a detailed account of the bunting's song. Whatever others
may think of him, I have come under the spell of his lyrical genius.
True, his voice has not the loud, metallic ring, nor his chanson the
medley-like, happy-go-lucky execution, that marks the musical
performances of the bobolink; but his song is more mellow, rhythmic,
theme-like; for he has a distinct tune to sing, and sing it he will. In
fine, his song is of a different order from that of the bobolink, and,
therefore, the comparison need be carried no further.

As one of these minstrels sat on a flowering weed and gave himself up
to a lyrical transport, I made careful notes, and now give the substance
of my elaborate entries. The song, which is intermittent, opens with
three prolonged notes running high in the scale, and is succeeded by a
quaint, rattling trill of an indescribable character, not without
musical effect, which is followed by three double-toned long notes quite
different from the opening phrases; then the whole performance is closed
by an exceedingly high and fine run like an insect's hum--so fine,
indeed, that the auditor must be near at hand to notice it at all.
Sometimes the latter half of the score, including the second triad of
long notes, is repeated before the soloist stops to take breath. It will
be seen that the regular song consists of four distinct phrases, two
triads and two trills. About one-third of the songs are opened in a
little lower key than the rest, the remainder being correspondingly
mellowed. The opening syllables, and, indeed, some other parts of the
melody as well, are very like certain strains of the song-sparrow, both
in execution and in quality of tone; and thus even the experienced
ornithologist may sometimes be led astray. When the bunting sails into
the air, he rehearses the song just described, only he is very likely to
prolong it by repeating the various parts, though I think he seldom, if
ever, throws them together in a hodge-podge. He seems to follow a system
in his recitals, varied as many of them are. As to his voice, it is of
superb timbre.

Another characteristic noted was that the buntings do not throw back
their heads while singing, after the manner of the sparrows, but stretch
their