TWO FRAGMENTS. 219 



sphinx was nothing more nor less than the common 

 grass-finch or vesper sparrow, a bird with which I 

 had been familiar for years. But the idea of a 

 grass-finch warbling in a tree-top! And such an 

 unheai'd-of warble ! Had a backwoodsman begun 

 a conversation in Hebrew I should have been 

 scarcely more surprised. 



However, the mystery, if there is any mystery 

 about it, ma}^ be readily explained. The bird had 

 recentl}^ arrived from the south, and, as I soon 

 learned, was putting himself through a course of 

 training for the spring and summer concerts in 

 which he was soon to have so prominent a part. 

 After identifying him I found it easy to detect 

 the sad, dulcet opening notes of his true song, 

 blending with the rather unmusical twitter of his 

 '^ maiden" efforts. His rehearsals had not been in 

 vain, for a few days later he was in full tune and 

 his roundelays were indeed very sweet. 



The next autumn I fonnd that the grass-finches 

 were again out of tune, singing a continuous, twit- 

 tering warble instead of the sweet intermittent 

 trills of the spring. Then it was not a rehearsal 

 for the coming song festival, but rather a sort of 

 aftermath of the festival that was past. At least, 

 such was my theory. 



