Listen! See! There he is, up on the very top of that young birch, with his head thrown back, singing as if his throat would split." As the children looked up they saw a fine bird with a curved beak, rusty-brown back, and light breast streaked with black, who was clinging to a slender spray, jerking his long tail while he sang.
"It seems as if I could almost hear the words he says," said Rap.
"Birds sing in many different tones," said the Doctor.

"The Thrasher's song is like some one talking cheerfully; the Meadowlark's is flute-like; the Oriole's is more like clarion notes; the Bobolink bubbles over like a babbling brook; while the dear little brown striped Song Sparrow, who is with us in hedge and garden all the year, sings pleasant home-like ballads." "There are some birds that Olive told me can't sing a bit," said Nat, "but only call and squeak.

How do they ask their mates to marry them ?" "All birds have alarm cries, and a call-note that serves the same purpose as a song, although it may not seem at all musical to us.

We are naturally more interested in that order of birds whose voices are the most perfectly developed.

These not only sing when they are courting, but all the time their mates are sitting upon the eggs, and until the young are ready to fly." "Why do birds always build nests in spring ?" asked Nat.
"I think because there is more for them to feed the little ones with, than when it gets to be hot and dry," said Rap, "and it gives them time to grow big and strong before winter comes, when they must go away." "Quite right, Rap, and it also gives the parents a chance to shed the old feathers that have been worn by rubbing on the nest, grow a new, thick, warm coat for winter, and rest themselves before they set out on their autumn journey.