The Birds’ Calendar 
cal reserve is of more authority than the opinion 
of those who have not. 
The delight caused by the return of many a 
bird in spring is in large measure due to the 
associated scenes of other times that are recalled 
by its appearance. Everyone in the country 
who has wandered through the woods at the 
twilight hour, listening to the choristers that 
sing their varied farewell to the day and drop 
off one by one into silence, feels the force of 
the poet’s lines; 
‘* Each bird gives o’er its note, the thrush alone 
Fills the cool grove when all the rest are gone.” 
It may well have been some noble song like 
the robin’s cheerful warble, or the more glorious 
chant of the wood thrush, heard among the 
branches in the cool of the day, that inspired 
the poetic utterance of the Psalmist, so sensitive 
to evéry natural beauty—‘‘ Thou makest the 
outgoings of the morning and evening to re- 
joice.’’ (For ‘‘rejoice’’ the marginal reading 
is ‘‘sing,’’ which gives color to the foregoing 
ornithological exegesis.) 
4 
A change has come over the spirit of the 
phoebe, which for the past few days has been 
114 
