The Birds' Calendar 



and quiet pool. It lingers about the orchard 

 like a benediction of Nature, and when it is 

 gone, its memory remains as immaculate and 

 suggestive as its own cerulean color. 



Objects which manifest themselves through 

 the different bodily senses do not seem to stand 

 upon any comparable basis, but science is be- 

 ginning to show a marvellous unity in this re- 

 spect, and the correlation of motion and heat, 

 which once would have been deemed an absurd- 

 ity, is now evident enough. Fancy sometimes 

 sees what science later proves, and if objects of 

 sight and hearing shall likewise be shown to 

 have an essential force in common, it may 

 some time be no surprise to detect the ethereal 

 warble of the bluebird melting into that most 

 spirituelle of all colors, the vanishing violet. 



Of all the more pretentious bird-songs I have 

 ever listened to, that of the purple finch seems 

 the most virile, gladsome, and melodious : as 

 gushing as that of the goldfinch, but less senti- 

 mental ; vigorous and not satiating ; not form- 

 less in modulation, but with a piquant rhythmic 

 phrase, a tripping measure that instantly catches 

 the ear and stirs the blood, a genuine and de- 

 lightful "invitation to the dance." During 

 the first few days of my country-life they were 



234 



