178 Sket cites of Some Common Birds. 



In the late summer the most of the songs begin bravely, 

 but falter after several measures, as though the performers 

 lost spirit before they finished their songs. I have imag- 

 ined that these late performances were the efforts of the 

 young males learning to sing, for they reminded me of 

 the strains of a novice on the cornet who has not yet ac- 

 quired a "lip." The defects are strikingly noticeable if 

 the fuller, stronger song of an old male is heard at the 

 same time. However, birds are like human beings in 

 their varying ability to sing, and we should not expect the 

 same finished execution of song from everj^ soloist. These 

 fialtering measures, instead of being the attempts of j'oung- 

 sters, may be only the best performances of older unskill- 

 ful musicians. 



1 can not conclude this rambling sketch of our door-yard 

 friend without further mention of the nervous, faltering 

 carols of even the best robin musicians. The most per- 

 sistent of the avian songsters repeat their lays after short 

 intervals, as though they would rest their vocal organs 

 after each ditty. The chipping sparrow, the indigo bunt- 

 ing, the rose-breasted grosbeak, the warbling vireo, and 

 in fact all other virtuosos, are thus enabled to trill hour 

 after hour through the day. The robin, however, seems 

 to have revised the old couplet to read — 



" Work when you work, and sing when you si7ig" 



for in hie nervous execution he begins to repeat trill after 

 trill, scarcely stopping to take breath, until in a short 

 time he falters from lack of further force, even breaking 

 down in the middle of his carol. Besting a few moments, 

 he vigorously resumes his rehearsal, as rapidly and as 

 nervously as before, only to falter in the lavish prodi- 

 gality of his lung power. His spontaneity of song will j 

 not be repressed into the regular cadences of the more ^ 

 artistic performers, but it rather wells up from a gushing 

 reservoir which can not withhold its flow until its level 

 has been reduced, sending forth at first a strong, steady 

 stream, but soon diminishing until it expends itself in 

 feeble drops. 



