A LABRADOR SPRING 



which has a sweet, gentle whistling note re- 

 sembling very much one of the notes of the 

 wood pewee. 



Bird songs are believed to be developments 

 from call-notes. In some cases this is very 

 evident. The European house sparrow repeats 

 its nerve-racking call-note so continuously, and 

 with such evident purpose on spring mornings, 

 that a thoughtful observer must admit that 

 this repetition constitutes the bird's love-song. 

 In other birds this connection is less evident, but 

 the evolution of the song can often be detected. 

 The wood pewee, by the irony of scientific fate 

 although technically classed among the non- 

 singing birds, has developed from its sweet and 

 simple whistling call-note a delightfully com- 

 plicated and truly musical composition, which, 

 without question, deserves the name of a song. 

 This in its delightful entirety is only vouch- 

 safed in the full ecstasy of passion. A first 

 cousin of the wood pewee, a bird that resembles 

 it as closely as the proverbial peas resemble 

 each other, has a very different song, which 

 indeed as a musical performance has no claim 

 to the name of song. This bird the least 

 flycatcher is also called the chebec from the 



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