June 



gloomy woods. A plaintive effect is very rare 

 among the song-birds, which are so generally 

 keyed to merriment. The goldfinch has an 

 evident touch of it, recurring now and then in 

 a song that is otherwise joyous and like rippling 

 laughter. One of the charms of the fox spar- 

 row, too, is a subtle quality of mournfulness 

 tingeing a melody that is cheerful, if not joyous. 

 But the pewee's note is like a faint, despairing 

 cry, not so desperate as to agonize the listener, 

 and yet appealing strongly to his sympathies. 

 It appears to be the most disconsolate of all 

 the family, the victim of chronic melancholia. 

 What a contrast to the hilarious disposition of 

 the ruby-crowned kinglet and the chickadee, 

 that bubble over with songful laughter ! 



If the appeal of the sorrowing pewee can 

 haunt one in the daytime, infusing a shadow 

 into the sunlight, how much more potent its 

 effect when heard in the congenial twilight. 

 One day at sundown I wandered through some 

 woods that were filled with the songs of birds. 

 It almost seemed that Nature was devout, and 

 this, her vesper-service ; and as the strain of 

 the cheery song sparrow, the noble and mel- 

 low carol of the robin, and the strangely rich 

 and liquid tones of the wood thrush, one by 



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