196 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



syllables to express, the differences were very marked, 

 and sometimes ludicrous. Only a single example need 

 be given. As we walked, a red-eyed greenlet com- 

 menced to sing in the top of a tall tree near by. " Let 

 US take plenty of time," I suggested, and we stood for 

 several minutes, listening to the tireless little musician. 

 Then, satisfied we had it correctly written, after several 

 modifications, onr vereions were compared. One was 

 wee-to Jdip-a-tee-tee ; the other see-ro tut a tut. One 

 heard distinctly a syllable uttered by the bird that the 

 other failed to catch, and the last notes were clear and 

 ringing to one, while guttural and indistinct to the 

 other. And each thought his own version much the 

 more correct. 



We did agree that the attempt to describe a bird's 

 song, except in the most general way, would, in most 

 cases, prove a failure. The " twittery-twits " and " chec- 

 ehees" that adorn our ornithological literature, we con- 

 cluded, very inadequately describe the songs of our 

 scores of singing-birds ; and later, on reading the efforts 

 of Nuttall to describe them, we were confirmed in our 

 opinion, for, with his book in hand, and the birds sing- 

 ing near by, we could seldom hear the songsters he men- 

 tioned sing the songs as he described them. 



The long-billed marsh-wrens that colonize the muddy 

 meadow, and also the more melodious swamp-sparrow, 

 were striking examples of how variously the same ut- 

 terances impress different persons. My companion 

 likened the notes of the wren to _phree-ee-ee, and the voice 

 of the sparrow a little more prolonged, but similar. 

 This description would certainly not have enabled n)e 



