Peripatetic Meditations 



bird's song. The notes of the Jersey bird are 

 distinctly sibilant, the accent very marked and 

 invariably on the second syllable, and the two 

 words "it is," four times expressed, each time 

 with added emphasis, are accurately descrip- 

 tive. The bird might well be called the Insist- 

 ent Accentor. 



As we watch this common bird of the woods, 

 seeing it under all circumstances, the impres- 

 sion arises that it is a creature of strong convic- 

 tions and an earnest upholder of squatter sover- 

 eignty rights. It is self-reliant and moves with 

 the dignity of a lord of the manor. Its " song" 

 is not akin to the warble of a blue-bird or the 

 clarion call of an oriole, but suggests to man, at 

 least, a distinctly positive expression of some 

 conclusion reached; an insistence that some- 

 thing is. 



All other birds silent for the moment, the 

 dead leaves no longer crackling under our feet, 

 we pause for an instant, thinking we have seen 

 a movement of an object on a dead limb near by. 

 We wait and watch. Presently, a little bunch 

 of brown feathers trips along the branch, takes 

 on more definite shape, stops a moment as ff 

 suspicious of us, regains its confidence, recalls 



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