"The Scythe-whetting or Rollicking Song is probably a form of greeting as well as love as it is uttered when two or more meet.
"It has been likened to the sound produced by the sharpening of a scythe and is a sharp metallic wich-er wick-er wick-ah ... repeated from two to twelve times."
[This is referring to the Northern Flicker (Colaptus auratus), a member of the woodpecker family.]
(Source: "The Wilson Bulletin", a magazine devoted to the study of birds, Number 31, "A Monograph of the Flicker", by Frank L. Burns, page 27, Wilson Ornithological Society, Oberlin Ohio, April 1900.
http://books.google.com/books?id=aQwXAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22scythe-whetting%22&pg=RA1-PA27#v=onepage&q=%22scythe-whetting%22&f=false))
