SOME CANADIAN BIRDS 



Again, there seems to be no singer here with a 

 clear predominance over its neighbours : no out- 

 standing thrush on the tree-top : no loud rattling 

 chaffinch : no lark holding unquestioned mastery 

 of the sky. 



Indeed, we listen in vain for a gentle ripple of 

 song even so distinctive as that of the willow- 

 wren. In effect, the notes seem blended into one 

 long musical murmur, broken now and again by 

 sharp twitterings, and yielding no single strain 

 that one can detach from the rest. 



This, of course, must be taken as the first im- 

 pression of one listening to new bird-music in a 

 foreign land, and it may well be that none of the 

 characteristic Canadian singers chanced to be 

 in evidence at the moment, for Burroughs tells us 

 that the hermit thrush, to take a single instance, 

 may fairly compare with our own British throstle. 



As one listens in the shade of the maple trees, 

 one note coming from the boughs just above our 

 head begins to take on a special significance of 

 its own. 



It is a low, rather melancholy note, constantly 

 repeated, and we become aware that it is being 

 uttered by quite a number of birds in all the trees 

 around. We soon make out the singer if so it 

 may be called : a bird of dull brown hue, some- 

 what larger in size and heavier in build than the 

 spotted flycatcher of our own country. 



By degrees we come without much difficulty 

 to separate the birds we see into groups analogous 

 to those of Great Britain, although of course, the 

 species themselves differ more or less widely. 



Thus we find owls, woodpeckers, crows, swallows, 

 finches, warblers, and so on, yet in every case the 

 birds themselves stand out with marked features 

 of their own. 



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