WOODLAND PATHS 



come familiar with it you begin to feel 

 that the robin is a very huckster of a 

 soloist. 



" Kill 'im, cure 'im, give 'im physic/' is 

 what the early settlers thought the robin 

 sang to them. It always seems to me as 

 if he sang, "Cherries; berries; straw- 

 berries. Buy a box; buy a box/' You 

 might translate the scarlet tanager's song 

 into either set of words but you would not. 

 Instead, you would ponder long to find a 

 phrase whose gentle refinement should ex- 

 press just the quality of it. Then I think 

 you would give it up, as I always do, con- 

 tent to feel its pure serenity, which is quite 

 beyond words. 



The tanager is just about beginning the 

 weaving of his home, which is as gentle 

 and refined in structure as his song. You 

 may see through it if you get just the right 



position from below, yet it is well built and 

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