136 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



exceptional quality of their music. Like miniature 

 harps and guitars, their myriad needles tinkle with 

 the slightest motion of the air. The gentle whisper 

 of their orchestration may be heard on all but the 

 very calmest of days. In a stiff breeze, the pine 

 needles become the reeds of a mighty pipe-organ. 

 In a storm they give forth a thunderous moan. It 

 has been noticed that wood doves and pigeons de- 

 light in the music of the pines. 



Another small-leaved tree which produces deli- 

 cate, voice-like music is the oleander. In Galves- 

 ton, Texas, the "Oleander City," under the influ- 

 ence of the breezes from the Gulf of Mexico, they 

 play and sing all night. The trembling aspen and 

 most poplars produce a clear tinkling which sounds 

 a great deal like bells in the distance. The weeping 

 willow, on which the captive Jews hung their harps 

 in Babylon, sighs and moans afresh for Israel in 

 every summer zephyr. Oaks and black gums are 

 rather melancholy trees, often caught with a pe- 

 culiar sigh on their leaves. 



When the giant redwoods of California wrestle 

 with the storm-wind, they roar and bellow like a 

 herd of enraged elephants. The cedars, caught 

 in the vortex of a gale, whistle with the note of a 

 high-powered wireless transmitter. The mangrove 

 produces a grunting sound when the wind plays 



