FArm{LY Vireonid2. 
the Yellow-throat in a much lower one. But the most 
striking difference between the voices of the birds is 
less a matter of key than quality of tone—in a word, the 
Yellow-throat’s notes are completely dominated by over- 
tones, and the Red-eye’s notes are not. To imitate this 
effect I hum any tone away down in the base and at the 
same time whistlé up high in a very slurring fashion the 
three or four notes common to the Yellow-throat’s song. 
Of course, music of that nature does not bear any rela- 
tion to the full, pure tones of a contralto singer. It is 
nearer the truth to say, rather, that the Yellow-throat 
has a violin quality to his voice, or better, a reedlike 
quality; Bradford Torrey calls it an ‘‘organ tone.” At 
any rate there is no clear whistle to this Vireo’s music, 
and on the contrary there is to the Red-eye’s music. 
That is the whole matter in a nut-shell! For the rest I 
may add that the Yellow-throat’s tempo is much slower, 
and that he does not indulge in such an interminable 
amount of singing! Red-eye takes life much less seri- 
ously, and Mr. Gilbert’s sentiments placed in Bunthorn’s 
mouth (in Patience) regarding the zsthetic poet, exactly 
fit his case: 
‘** It really does n’t matter 
If it ’s only idle chatter 
Of a transcendental kind!” 
The deliberate way in which the Yellow-throat sings is 
also another characteristic of the bird which must always 
separate his song from that of all his relatives. He is 
never in a hurry, and after singing three or four clusters 
of slurred notes, thus: 
Andanle, Awe 
‘ Seeme!l Imhere, whereare you? 
he gives you plenty of time to think the matter over be- 
fore he makes another remark, and always, you will no« 
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