The Birds' Calendar 



characteristic difference in the music of the two 

 seasons than is ever produced by artificial chimes. 

 The sounds of night are quite as apt to the oc- 

 casion as those of day. What could be more 

 ill-timed in the darkness than the clear whistle 

 of the white-throat, or the warble of the purple 

 finch? Neither could the sombre call of owl, 

 and whippoorwill, and night-hawk blend with 

 full sunlight. Crickets and katydids are vo- 

 cal undulations of darkness, and the croaking of 

 frogs, to be most effective, must have a back- 

 ground of gloom and water. Daylight is ac- 

 companied by vivacious, ringing tones ; night, 

 by harsh, strident, and hoarse noises. The rob- 

 in stands sentinel at the gates of day and night, 

 his mellow warble greeting the first gleam of 

 morning light, and bidding a farewell when 

 day is done. 



Almost always, in my rambles in one direc- 

 tion, I could hear, and often see, that not un- 

 common but irregularly distributed bird, the 

 Virginia partridge — a good - looking, gamey 

 specimen (gamey in the flesh, not in the spir- 

 it), and familiarly known as ''Bob-white" — 

 so-called from the fact that the whistled note of 

 246 



