78 A SPAEROW QUARTETTE. 



him repeat his threnody. But now that he has 

 been discovered he flits to a higher perch, throws 

 back his head, and makes a supreme vocal effort, 

 and lo ! the song is changed, having become a rich, 

 resonant roundelay that almost wakes the sylvan 

 echoes. Presently he turns about and treats us 

 to another variation, which may be represented 

 thus : Ch-e-e^ ch-e-e^ che-tve-e-e, che-we^ che-we^ clie-we ! 

 dying out in a cadence of exquisite sweetness. 

 He has at least a dozen different tunes in his 

 song-quiver. 



I have made note of quite a number of these 

 variations, but do not feel that I have exhausted 

 his treasury of song. Sometimes his roundel 

 opens with a trill, followed by several long notes, 

 and closes with another trill ; at other times there 

 is one long syllable, succeeded by a protracted 

 trill ; often there are two long notes at the begin- 

 ning, then a cluster of short, staccato notes in the 

 same key, as near as I can tell, followed by a per- 

 fect spray of music in a different key altogether. 

 The longer notes are sometimes pure, clear, and 

 resonant, and anon they become a fine, ecstatic, 

 quivering outburst, as if the musician had broken 

 a string of his harp. One day I heard one of 

 these birds singing on the ridge of a barn roof, and, 



