162 
ing with each other in the fire and earnest- 
ness of their delivery. It seemed as if in 
their rivalry they exerted all their art and 
strength to give ‘the day a splendid close. 
What a great diversity there was in the 
beauty, variety and skillin delivery among 
the singers! Here was a miserable stammer- 
er who could‘utter nothing but a monoton- 
ous twitter and a few harsh cries, there a 
mediocre performance with much that was 
praiseworthy blended with certain faults 
and dissonances, and now ina third spot is 
heard the song of a virtuoso worthy to dis- 
pute the Nightingale’s claims to supremacy. 
What are the qualities which distin zuish 
such an accomplished artist? The following 
are the chief requirements of the voice: it 
must be strong and full, not shrill yet far 
reaching and having a metallic ring. 
Farther, the compass of the voice must be 
sufficient to enable the bird to give the 
necessary variations to the tones for on this 
depends the formation and abundance of 
the bars. Let the bars be ever so beauti- 
ful and melodius in themselves they will 
weary the hearer if too often repeated, tor 
it is possible to have too much of a good 
thing. On the other hand the best parts 
of the song and the most interesting varia- 
tions must not be too sparsely distributed. 
Every locality, every considerable wood- 
ed area at least, has its characteristic thros- 
tle cry that always remains unmistakably 
the same although the distinction may be 
extremely slight. This circumstance may 
be explained by the proverb. ‘‘As the old 
have sung so twitter the young’. The 
young throstles hear the songs of their 
father, not only in the nest but long after- 
wards, and they imitate his mode and man- 
ner precisely, their imitation ot the paternal 
song is, excepting certain minor variations, 
so faithful that it becomes a permanent 
characteristic. It has occasionally happen- 
ed that in the midst of these similar songs 
we have detected others with marked var- 
iations and which seemed to come from 
strangers. We'always inferred that indi- 
THE OREGON NATURALIST. 
viduals had been detained from some czvse 
or another during their migrations, or that 
love of change had led them to wander be- 
yond their native boundaries. 
Let the reader now follow us to the plain 
amid fields of growing grain to make the 
acquaintance of the minstrel of tne fields 
and learn of his accomplishmeits. The 
beautiful day in eariy summer draws to a 
close. The evening breeze, laden withthe 
spicy odors of the fields, breathes a grate- 
ful coolness round us. The chirp of the 
crickets does not mar the sense of solitude 
and the song of the cicada, hidd2n amid the 
snowy blossoms of the thorn bush de2p- 
ens the f2eling of loneliness. Suddenly a 
lark ris2s from out the dark grain. Its 
tones sound rather sharp and shrill when 
it is near at hand, but they become2 malod- 
ious When the sizer has soared aloft in its 
spiral curves As it circles about the song 
is continued without interruption and it 
seems scarcely possible that the singers 
breath can hold out. Yet wemust rem2m- 
ber what qua ifications the lark possesses, 
a full rounded chest, a fine fre> ne:k and 
great strong pinions that make a lofty 
flight easy. 
Consider the stormy impulse of the bird 
soul to soar aloft into the pure aether, to 
the clouds, the excitable mood that shows 
itself even in the walk, in the bearing, and 
in the ready play of the feathers on the 
head. All this explains the unusual dis- 
play of strength made by the bold voyager 
of the air. The song of the lark bubbles 
forth with truly elementary force, It may 
be said that it is a melody confined within 
very narrow limits, an air composed of ever 
recurring uniform notes. Yet in spite of 
this sameness the trained listner cannot 
fail to notice that there is a distinction be- 
tween the song of the lark of the plain and 
that of the mountain country. There are 
excellent singers on the plains, yet the very 
best that we have heard were in the moun- 
tains. The cause of this difference evi- 
dentiy is that among the mountains the 
