A LOWLAND TRILLER. 93 



know them apart at sight. At first they may 

 looli almost alike to you, but by and by you 

 will have no trouble in distinguishing them. 



In one respect the song sparrow differs 

 from nearly all his relatives, most of whom 

 have one trill which they repeat at intervals, 

 only now and then varying it a little ; but our 

 lowland musician sings a large number of 

 tunes, some twenty or more, with an ease and 

 skill that are delightful. Some of them are 

 soft and low, as if intended for the ears of 

 his mate or nestlings alone ; others are pitched 

 to so high a key that the sound goes echoing 

 across the marsh like a bugle ; some are very 

 mournful, coming, it would seem, from a broken 

 heart; while others are so gay and rollicking 

 that you fancy the singer must have fallen heir 

 to a fortune. 



Thus it would seem that the song sparrow 

 revels in variety ; he disdains humdrum above 

 all else. Nothing is more foreign to his taste 

 than a musical rut, and you never can be sure 

 when you have reached the end of his reper^ 

 toire. After discoursing in one strain for 

 awhile, he will turn to another with as much 

 grace and skill as a jprima donna who wins an 

 encore. 



Sometimes when I go out to the swamp 



