. Wild life of orchard and field;. al laugh. Sometimes, never-theless, the cry is nearer a scream, or the harshnoise made by sharpening a knife. It is in thejoyous excitement of choosing a mate that thiskeen and sonorous call rings loudest across theblossoming fields, and then it is great sport to watchthe antics of a group of golden-winged beaux, eachstriving to attract some coquettish maid who isslow to single out one of the noisy and quarrel-some crew. ^ It is during this time of courtship and domesticduty and joy that one hears oftenest those softerand sweeter notes of this bird, which sou
. Wild life of orchard and field;. al laugh. Sometimes, never-theless, the cry is nearer a scream, or the harshnoise made by sharpening a knife. It is in thejoyous excitement of choosing a mate that thiskeen and sonorous call rings loudest across theblossoming fields, and then it is great sport to watchthe antics of a group of golden-winged beaux, eachstriving to attract some coquettish maid who isslow to single out one of the noisy and quarrel-some crew. ^ It is during this time of courtship and domesticduty and joy that one hears oftenest those softerand sweeter notes of this bird, which sound Hkewicka, ivicka, wicka, frequently repeated. It is agentle, melodious utterance, with a curious crackle 327 WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD in the tone; and it gives one a new and fonderfeeling for the flicker—an affectionate regard thattinges pleasantly our admiration for the gay roy-sterer who at other times bids us shout back acheery hold I to his wild field-cry. WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD XIX THE YELLOW-THROATS GARDEN. OWN below the high ledge uponwhich I sit comfortably in theshade of a hemlock is a littleswamp that I am accustomed tocall the Yellow-throats is in bigness not much greaterthan the zone of shadow thatancient oak swings about it inthe circle of a summer day, butit is wonderfully crowded withlife. How tropical it looks inthe fulness of this late - sum-mer fruition! The underbrushis thick with the feathery frondsof ferns—brake and lady-fern—and the royal osmunda; andabove and among the leafy 329 WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD brush of alder, black ash, and striped maple spreadthe curving palm-like branches of the sumachs—the red with its stag-horn tops, the yellow, whoseblossoms are so richly redolent of beeswax, and thepoisonous one. At the cleared edge of the patch,too, where the ditch is, grows that other pretty butpestilent rhus—the poison ivy. Right in amongit a Maryland yellow-throat made his home andsang and shouted his Whered y
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectanimalb, bookyear1902
