STRANGE NOTES. 83 



place of concealment and again admired the 

 glimpse of the distant landscape between the taller 

 trees in the opposite direction. Nothing had 

 struck me more throughout the day than the per- 

 fect stillness of nature, the uninterrupted silence 

 reigning in these fir-woods. With the exception 

 of the solitary fawn, I had neither seen nor heard 

 any native animal since I ascended to my place 

 of concealment. I was especially surprised at 

 the total absence of all kinds of small birds, 

 some of which, such as the great tit, the blue tit, 

 or their congeners, the marsh or the cole tit, 1 

 should have expected to see or hear even at this 

 season, or at least to have caught a glimpse of 

 some feathered inhabitants of the forest. This 

 circumstance had just recurred to my memory 

 with redoubled force, as I perceived, by the de- 

 clining sun, that the evening was approaching, 

 when suddenly a singular, continuous, shrill 

 chirping sound reached niy ears, as of several 

 small birds together, but the notes were strange 

 to me. Although well acquainted with the call 

 of most British birds, I could not recognize this 

 one, and the longer I listened the more I was 

 puzzled. Gradually it approached, and seemed to 

 proceed from one of the taller Scotch firs at a 

 little distance. Fixing my eyes on the spot, I 



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