ANTHEM OF THE WILLOW WRENS 



of a road through birches and larches just greening, 

 I found many willow wrens challenging, following up 

 each other's songs. The effect is quite peculiar in 

 such bird choirs. There is something in it that 

 reminds one of a rhyme, there is something like a 

 chime the rhyming and chiming of the willow 

 wrens. There is interruption, several birds singing 

 the same passage at the same moment, but it never 

 becomes inharmonious. Quite different is the bird- 

 babel, heard sometimes on a March or April evening 

 about sundown, in which blackbirds, many thrushes, 

 redbreasts and ringdoves, seem all to be hurrying 

 out song in rivalry the result a medley of spoilt 

 music. The choicest passages of each species and 

 individual are blurred and confused ; it is impossible 

 to listen to and enjoy fully any one bird. If the 

 general effect is not actual discord, it is failure from 

 a listener's point of view. 



Now, in the anthem of the willow wrens there is 

 not a discordant note. Anthem, the hymn of public 

 worship is it far-fetched to use the word of the 

 choir of these charming little birds of the birch 

 woods ? One need not force the imagination to 

 think they are pouring out their very souls in joyous 

 homage on a kind April morning. 



These are willow wrens that have not yet paired 

 or chosen their bit of ground for the spring and 

 summer. They have but lately recovered from the 

 fatigue of their journey through the sky deeps, and 

 are busy feeding amid the tree twigs and bushes. 

 In a few days they spread out over the country, and 



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