244 THE WESTERN ROBIN. 
had never seen anything more pathetic than the stubborn faith of the man who 
had dreamed of rearing a home amidst such desolation. How could a man be 
happy here? and how dare he bring a wife and tender children to share 
such a forlorn hope? Why, the wilderness around had raised nothing but 
sage-brush and jack-rabbits for countless millenniums; but here in this tiny 
oasis were locust trees and poplars. And here, as the sun sank low in the West, 
a Robin burst into song. The nearest human neighbor was miles away, and 
the nearest timber further. Yet here was this home-loving Robin, this re- 
incarnation of childhood’s friend, pouring out in the familiar cadence of old 
his thanksgiving for shelter and food, his praise for joy of life and gladness 
to the Almighty, who is Father of all. And then I understood. 
The Robin’s song in its common form is too well known to require par- 
ticular description, and too truly music to lend itself well to syllabic imitation. 
It is a common thing, indeed, like the upturned mold and the air which fans 
it, but out of these come the varied greens which beautify the world; the 
homely piping 
of the Robin 
has given birth 
10) HN Ebina yy eh 
heaven-directed 
aspiration, and 
purged many a 
soul of guilty 
intent. Robin 
conceives many 
passages which 
are too high for 
him, and these 
he hums in- 
audibly, or fol- 
Photo by. OWS in’ “silent 
the Author. thought, like a 
tenor with a 
cold. When the 
theme reaches his compass again, he resumes, not where he left off but at the 
end of the unheard passage. It must be confessed, however reluctantly, that 
the song of the Western Robin is a little more subdued in character than that 
of the Eastern. The bird is a little less devoted to his art, and the total 
volume of sound yielded by any one chorus has never equalled, in my experi- 
ence, that of a similar effort in the East. 
Taken 
in Seattle. 
SUNSET AT THE ROBIN ROOST. 
When the Robin is much given to half-whispered notes and strains un- 
usually tender, one may suspect the near presence of his fiancée. If you are 
