WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



in an orchard. ''And often/' says the narrator, 

 "have I heard the chief musician of the orchard, 

 on the topmost bough of an ancient apple-tree, 

 sing. 



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to which the chorister of the park, from the summit 

 of a maple, would respond, in the same key. 



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and, for the life of me, I never was able to tell wheth- 

 er their songs were those of rivalry or of greet- 

 ing and friendly intercourse. And now if you will 

 strike these notes on the piano, or, which is better, 

 breathe them from the flute, you will know the 

 song of the oriole, or rather obtain an idea of its 

 general characteristics, for no two that I have ever 

 heard sang the same melody.'' 



The female also has a pretty song, which mingles 

 with the brilliant tenor of the male during all the 

 season of love-making; but as May merges into 

 June, and the business of the summer begins, both 

 cease their exalted strains, and only the mellow, 

 ringing whistle is heard; then, as family cares 



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