68 HIGHWAYS ^ND BYWAYS. 



but the note was repeated too many times, and came in 

 too exactly on the beat." 



Several of the sparrows modulate their notes so as to 

 greatly deceive in regard to distance. In riding along 

 country roads how often one looks away into fields to 

 see the vesper sparrow {Pooeeetes gramineics), when it is 

 singing from its perch close by, on a fence stake. The 

 song of the field sparrow {Sjnzella pusilla) is still more 

 deceiving. One is also often puzzled to locate the notes 

 of the Baltimore oriole {Icterus galbula). Both sexes 

 have, to a certain extent, this power to mislead, and 

 what is still more curious, the young birds will often 

 perplex one in regard to their whereabouts. 



Few birds with soft voices can ])roject their notes 

 farther than can the cuckoos, but often in the near 

 presence of man there is such a 'remoteness' about" 

 their melloAV " coo, coo," that only the trained ear of an 

 ornithologist can readily locate the bird. Burroughs 

 speaks of their ''clairvo^^ant call," and Wordsworth, 

 without giving it a name, recognized this quality when 

 he sings of the cuckoo : 



" While I am lying on the grass, 

 Thy loud note smites my ear ; 

 From hill to hill it seems to pass : 

 At once far off and near." 



Lowell, in his charming sketch, " My Garden 

 Acquaintance," notices this habit of the robins: "When 

 they come after my cherries to the tree near ]ny window, 

 they always muffle their voices, and their faint peep 

 sounds far away at the bottom of the garden. The 



