July 



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emotions. Love, contentment, anxiety, exulta- 

 tion, rage — what other animal can throw such 

 multifarious meaning into its tone? And here- 

 in the robin seems more nearly human than any 

 of its kind. 



In summer the robin is commonly in most 

 vocal mood in his morning serenade, about 

 four or five o'clock; the world not yet astir, 

 the air cool, dewy, and fragrant, and nature 

 receiving its earliest greeting of light and song. 

 Morning and evening are the poetic edges of 

 a day that is full enough of prose. The most 

 delightful association of robin is with that scene, 

 so familiar in every country home, when, after a 

 summer's shower at close of day, 



" If chance the radiant sun, with farewell sweet, 

 Extend his ev'ning beam, the fields revive. 

 The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds 

 Attest their joy, that hill and valley ring," — 



while from the dripping maple one hears the 

 cheerful carol of the robin, as if voicing Nature's 

 thankfulness for the blessing of the rain and of 

 the sunshine. No other sound blends so well 

 with the spirit of the scene. 



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