SONGS OUT OF SEASON. 



Much has been written concerning the minstrelsy 

 of our American birds during the song season, 

 which includes the three spring months and a part 

 of July. It is not so well known, however, that 

 many birds fall into the lyrical mood at other 

 seasons of the year. I have been giving the sub- 

 ject of " songs out of season " much attention, and 

 wish to present to my readers the results of my 

 study. Let us begin with the robin, whose carols 

 are familiar sounds in the spring. It is not, how- 

 over, an uncommon occurrence to hear him singing 

 a soft, far-away roundel in August, as I did on the 

 thirty-first of that month, when almost all other birds 

 were silent. Of course it lacks the vigor of his 

 early spring pseans, being only a sort of fractional 

 aftermath of song. In September and October I 

 frequently heard the redbreast carolling to keep 

 himself in tune for the next spring, and my notes 

 inform me that on the third of November — a clear, 

 cold day — a robin was singing a sprightly lay 

 before the sun had risen. 



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