BIRDS, FLOWERS, AND PEOPLE 119 



although I had the point continually in mind, 

 I could only pronounce the song to be ex- 

 actly what my ear was accustomed to, 

 sweet and everything that was beautiful, but 

 a solitary vireo's song, and nothing else. 

 And this, to my thinking, is praise enough. 

 There is no bird-song within my acquaintance 

 that excels the solitary's in a certain intimate 

 expressiveness, affectionateness, home-felt 

 happiness, and purity. Not that it has all 

 imaginable excellencies, the unearthly, 

 spiritual quality of the best of our woodland 

 thrush music, for example ; but such as it is, 

 an utterance of love and love's felicity, it 

 leaves nothing to ask for. What a contrast 

 between it and the red-eye's comparatively 

 meaningless and feelingless music ! And 

 yet, so far as mere form is concerned, the two 

 songs may be considered as built upon the 

 same model, if not variations of the same 

 theme. There must be a world-wide differ- 

 ence between the two species, one would say, 

 in the matter of character and temperament. 

 My arrival at Highlands seemed to have 

 been coincident with that of an extraordi- 

 nary throng of rose-breasted grosbeaks. For 

 the first few days, especially, the whole 



