IN THE FLAT-WOODS. 17 



again half a minute later, but at that in- 

 stant he was out of sight in the scrub, and 

 seemingly on the ground. This feature of 

 the song, one of its chief merits and its most 

 striking peculiarity, is well described by Mr. 

 Brewster. " Now," he says, " it has a full, 

 bell-like ring that seems to fill the air around ; 

 next it is soft and low and inexpressibly ten- 

 der ; now it is clear again, but so modulated 

 that the sound seems to come from a great 

 distance." * 



Not many other birds, I think (I cannot 

 recall any), habitually vary their song in this 

 manner. Other birds sing almost inaudibly 

 at times, especially in the autumnal season. 

 Even the brown thrasher, whose ordinary 

 performance is so full-voiced, not to say bois- 

 terous, will sometimes soliloquize, or seem to 

 soliloquize, in the faintest of undertones. 

 The formless autumnal warble of the song 

 sparrow is familiar to every one. And in 

 this connection I remember, and am not 

 likely ever to forget, a winter wren who 

 favored me with what I thought the most 

 bewitching bit of vocalism to which I had 



1 Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, vol. vii. 

 p. 98. 



