RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 
doubling up of the vowel e must mean a sustained tone; 
if this is so, then the cabalistic signs should appear thus: 
r A d WWMM nw, 
Gug - lug-gee-e-e-e-e-e-e! 
By simply tapping and moving a pencil on a table this 
way one can get the rhythm perfectly. If one should try 
to whistle these three tones the difficulty would be great 
but not insurmountable. It is only necessary to whistle 
and say simultaneously, Gug-lug, with the second sylla- 
ble about a third higher than the first, and then follow 
that with along-drawn geee in a tone midway between 
the other two, but whistled and hummed simultaneously. 
If anyone can do that, the sound produced will be a tol- 
. erable imitation of the Red-winged Blackbird’s song! 
The advice seems not unlike the recipe in the imprac- 
tical Cook Book: ‘‘ Take a quart of cream,” which was 
echoed by the indignant housewife, who despairingly 
added, ‘‘ Asif we kept a cowin the back yard!” Pos- 
sibly the reader may also feel inclined to comment in- 
dignantly, ‘‘ As if I were a bird!” But one can easily 
afford to pass the experiment if the general principle of 
the rhythm is understood, for the Red-winged Blackbird 
never fails to stick close to that. 
The written music appears almost as plain, although 
there is never that accuracy of pitch in the Red-wing’s 
voice which would enable me to say he uses a perfect 
third, or fourth, or sixth, as the case may be. 
Ywice Bra. | . 
wy af of A mina P meearee OF prem ES 
a ; : 
Sc Se AS ed OE Bay TA A a Be NS Ds 
cA De RT RRRR KL AS 
7 OE, 
Gug - lug - gee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-ef 
i é 
To be sure the fellow is pardonably flat at times, and 
then again distressingly sharp; but on the whole the 
music is intelligible, welcome, and even inspiring, for it 
is a joyous announcement that spring is at hand. There 
is also, as William Hamilton Gibson writes, a felicitous 
**gurgle and wet ooze in it,” which reminds us of the 
55 
