TANGLES OF BIRD-SONG. 



Go out to the haunts of the birds on a briofht 

 mornmg of Ma}^ or June, and listen ; you will be 

 surprised at the number and variety of the strains 

 that fall simultaneously on your ear, and I doubt 

 whether you will be able to resist the wondrous 

 enchantment of the birds' choral. If the ear is 

 not trained, it will catch only a jumble of musical 

 notes, without rhythm, or unity, or system, nor 

 will the hearer be able to differentiate (to use a 

 scientific term now in vogue) the various trills 

 and quavers and carols that greet him ; but the 

 trained ear detects every thread woven into the 

 fabric of melody, tracing it to the particular bird- 

 throat from which it unwinds, and catching not 

 only the major but also the minor strains ; the 

 gossamer trill of the grasshopper sparrow as well 

 as the ecstatic outburst of the bobolink ; the sad 

 tune of the wood sparrow and the glad medley of 

 brown thrush. 



It is indeed a rare treat to listen to the early 



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