232 EARLY MORNING STUDIES 



act of life, not only in song and manners, but 

 even in their grouping. One shall scarcely 

 twice find exactly the same species living to- 

 gether hi the neighborhood. And since they 

 sing about their homes, the songs of the 

 morning in any given locality are determined 

 by the species resident there. In a good 

 many years of close observation I have never 

 found much resemblance between the morn- 

 ing chorus of any two places. 



The exceptional charm of the song of the 

 morning first came into my consciousness a 

 good many years ago in North Carolina where 

 the bird of the South the mocking-bird 

 (who deserves a better name) took the lead, 

 and indeed usually furnished the entire pro- 

 gramme of the morning performance, 



" Trying to be ten birds in one " ; 



sometimes, too, after having entranced me 

 by a glorious midnight rhapsody. 



Since that awakening, the first bird-note, 

 be it mocking-bird or English sparrow, 

 arouses me, and I lie and listen to the music 

 that comes through my wide-open windows, 

 so long as the overture lasts. For it is curi- 



