22 IN THE FLAT WOODS. 



beautiful bird with a song to match. I kept 

 him under my glass, and presently the strain 

 was repeated, but not by him. Then it 

 ceased, and I was none the wiser. Perhaps 

 I never should be. It was indeed a shame. 

 Such a taking song ; so simple, and yet so 

 pretty, and so thoroughly distinctive. I 

 wrote it down thus : tce-koi, tee-koo, two 

 couplets, the first syllable of each a little 

 emphasized and dwelt upon, not drawled, 

 and a little higher in pitch than its fellow. 

 Perhaps it might be expressed thus : 



I cannot profess to be sure of that, however, 

 nor have I unqualified confidence in the 

 adequacy of musical notation, no matter 

 how skillfully employed, to convey a truthful 

 idea of any bird song. 



The affair remained a mystery till, in 

 Daytona, nine days afterward, the same 

 notes were heard again, this time in lower 

 trees that did not stand in deep water. Then 

 it transpired that my mysterious warbler was 

 not a warbler at all, but the Carolina chicka- 

 dee. That was an outcome quite unexpected, 



