76 A SPARROW QUARTETTE. 



you don't follow it ? " I hear him say, as he bursts 

 into a splendid trill that echoes across the intervale 

 and wakens every brownie and water-witch of the 

 lowlands. 



While many other birds are chary, and even par- 

 simonious, of their songs, this sparrow gives us the 

 benetit of his voice at almost all seasons of the 

 year. I have often listened to him in February, 

 and of course during the months of spring, and 

 also in August, September, October, November, 

 December and January, thus completing the cir- 

 clet of the months of the year. In the autumn 

 there is often a softness and a pensiveness about 

 his trills and cadences not to be heard at other 

 times, as if he were sorry that winter, with its 

 storms and cold weather, were so near at hand, or 

 as if he were calling back memories of the blos- 

 soming spring. 



What variety and versatility there are in his 

 vocal efforts in the song season ! What resonance 

 of tone ! The poets have sung the praises of the 

 skylark, the nightingale, the cuckoo, and the 

 mocking-bird ; who will write an ode worthy of 

 the varied trills and quavers and ecstatic outbursts 

 of the song-sparrow ? At this very moment, as I 

 sit writing on a grassy slope beneath the trees, I 



