WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



exploring, and pours forth a rapturous welcome 

 to the couriers of summer. Then through all the 

 spring days, whether they be shady or sunny, 

 from early morn till long after sunset, are heard 

 the sweet and cheery cadences of his song, thrilled 

 out over and over again like a canary's. He starts 

 off with a few low, rattling notes, makes a quick 

 leap to a high strain, ascends through many a 

 melodious variation to the key-note, and suddenl^^- 

 stops, leaving his song to sing itself through in 

 your brain. To amplify another's illustration, it 

 is as though he said, "Press- />/-e55- PRESS, BY- 

 TEEEE-RIAN-mn./'' His clear tenor, the gur- 

 gling, bubbling alto of the blackbirds, the slender 

 purity of the bluebird's soprano, and the solid 

 basso-profundo of the frogs, with the accompani- 

 ment of the April wind piping on the bare reeds 

 of winter, or the drumming of rain - drops, form 

 the naturalist's spring quartette — as pleasing, if 

 not as grand, as the full chorus of earh^ June. 



The song of the sparrow varies in different in- 

 dividuals, and often changes with the season. 

 A single bird has been observed through several 

 successive summers to sing nine or ten different 

 sets of notes, usually uttering them one after an- 

 other in the same order over and over. Careful 



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