Song Birds and Water Fowl 
hears a whirlwind of notes suddenly crystallizing 
into a dancing phrase, followed by a luminous 
whirr of sound that baffles all attempts at clear 
description. This tripping phrase is the nu- 
cleus, the transparent gem, in the vocal setting 
of this famous singer’s ecstasy, like a sparkling 
diamond in the forefront of a kingly crown. 
The warbling vireo, with no such climactic 
point of rhythmic simplicity, has just the mel- 
lifluous and aimless exuberance of an innocent 
damsel of sixteen ; leaving upon the listener no 
other distinct impression than that of a saccha- 
rine and slightly insipid pleasure. 
Among all the ‘‘warblers’’ (who, however, 
never warble),and whose musical efforts are com- 
monly very brief and rather pointless, there is one 
notable exception, as regards decisive rhythm 
and inflection, in the beautiful ‘‘ black-throated 
green,’’ who evidently has a very distinct im- 
pression of what he is about to say before he 
begins to sing. The intonation is remarkably 
pure, the tones have a broad range in thescale, 
and the szng is very marked. In general, I 
pity the innocence of those who reduce bird 
melodies to human musical notation, in the ex- 
pectation that they will convey any correct 
idea; but such a course is warranted in the 
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