SOME OF NATURE'S SOUNDS. 73 



heard were due to the snapping or breaking of 

 large fibers or bundles of wood while under 

 great tension. The later sounds were caused by 

 the limbs of the smaller maple, gradually giv- 

 ing way after supporting for a time the body of 

 the larger. As the latter slowly settled to the 

 earth more and more of its fibers parted at the 

 break in its bole, and their last despairing 

 shrieks rent the silent air. There was no crash- 

 ing sound, no thud answering thud, as body of 

 tree met body of earth, for the fall was too 

 gentle, too prolonged for that. On the other 

 hand the sounds were those of a giant in agony, 

 groaning out a last farewell to surrounding 

 companions, as it forever yielded up the life 

 with which it had been blessed. 



Other of nature's sounds come to me this 

 August Sabbath morn. The stridulation of a 

 locust as it rises from beside me the wooing 

 notes of the green Orchelimum from the dense 

 marsh grass in the valley below the harsh 

 caw-caw of a trio of crows, seemingly ever pres- 

 ent 'neath summer skies, midst wintry winds 

 the calls and chatterings of the red-head and the 



