IN THE FLAT-WOODS. ils 
again half a minute later, but at that in- 
stant he was out of sight in the scrub, and 
seemingly on the ground. This feature of 
the song, one of its chief merits and its most 
striking peculiarity, is well described by Mr. 
Brewster. ‘ Now,” he says, “it has a full, 
bell-like ring that seems to fill the air around ; 
next it is soft and low and inexpressibly ten- 
der; now it is clear again, but so modulated 
that the sound seems to come from a great 
distance.” + 
Not many other birds, I think (1 cannot 
recall any), habitually vary their song in this 
manner. Other birds sing almost inaudibly 
at times, especially in the autumnal season. 
Even the brown thrasher, whose ordinary 
performance is so full-voiced, not to say bois- 
terous, will sometimes soliloquize, or seem to 
soliloquize, in the faintest of undertones. 
The formless autumnal warble of the song 
sparrow is familiar to every one. And in 
this connection I remember, and am not 
likely ever to forget, a winter wren who 
favored me with what I thought the most 
bewitching bit of vocalism to which I had 
1 Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, vol. vii. 
p- 98. 
