Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, vol 2.djvu/463



I HOPE, kind reader, you will approve of the liberty which I have taken in prefixing the name of the learned Nuttall to the present spe- cies, which was discovered by his indefatigable and enthusiastic devotion to science, in a country where Wilson, Bonaparte, Bachman, Picker- ing, Cooper, Say, and others had already exerted themselves to the ut- most in their endeavours to complete its diversified and interesting Fauna. I hope, too, that you will allow me to present you with the history of this sweet little inhabitant of our freshwater marshes, as given by my friend, who at this moment is toiling with all imaginable spirit, far towards the west, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. In granting my request, you will confer on me a favour, truly acceptable, as it enables me to testify the friendship which I feel towards him of whom I have spoken.

" This amusing and not unmusical little species inhabits the lowest marshy meadows, but does not frequent the reed flats. It never visits cultivated grounds, and is at all times shy, timid, and suspicious. It arrives in this part of Massachusetts about the close of the first week in May, and retires to the south by the middle of September at farthest, probably by night, as it is never seen in progress, so that its northern residence is only prolonged about four months.

" Its presence is announced by its lively and quaint song of tsh, tship, a day, day, day, day, delivered in haste and earnest at short intervals, either when he is mounted on a tuft of sedge, or while perched on some low bush near the skirt of the marsh. The tsh, tship is uttered with a strong aspiration, and the remainder with a guttural echo. While thus engaged, his head and tail are alternately depressed and elevated, as if the little odd performer were fixed on a pivot. Sometimes the note varies to tschip, tschip, tshia, dh, dh, dh, dh, the latter part being a pleasant trill.

"When approached too closely, which not often happened, as he permitted me to come within two or three feet of his station, his song becomes harsh and more hurried, like tship, da, da, da, and de, de, de, de, d, d, dh, or tshe, de, de, de, de, rising into an angry petulant cry, which