58 AS THE YEAR GROWS 



ventriloquial melody that eludes and mystifies the 

 listener* It puts the eye and ear at variance, " It 

 cannot be that bird, for the song comes from else- 

 where/' Now it is in the Pine overhead, again in the 

 impenetrable Cedar just behind, and still again it 

 seems to come from the surrounding atmosphere. 

 But there sits the musical ventriloquist on the 

 slender limb, clearly outlined against the sky. 

 Suddenly he throws off the disguise, opens his 

 bill and pours his song out to the sunshine, to 

 blend with the spontaneous life of the growing 

 woods. 



