FAMILY Tyrannidae. 



Phoebe ve-bliebt ! * the second utterance, with its chopped - 

 off syllable, sounding like a bit of mongrel German! The 

 whole song is exactly what Mr. Chapman says it is" a 

 hopelessly tuneless performance." Then he adds a touch 

 of sentiment, and says further: " but who that has heard 

 it in early spring when the ' pussy-willow' seems almost 

 to purr with soft blossoms, will not affirm that Phoebe 

 touches clionls dumb to more ambitious son._ i 



is almost useless to place this "tuneless" song on the 

 musical staff, yet the positions of the notes will aid < in- 

 to recognize the inflections of the voice; here is the song: 



[U j 



Phce - be, ve bliebt Phce - be, ve - bliebt. 



The tones are all burred, and all slurred, so the syllables 

 are all lost in "swishing'' whistles. Perhaps, also, the 

 tracing of these lines with a pencil may help one to catch 

 the rhythm: 



Phce - be, ve - Wiebtf Phce- be 



Wood Pewee Among all the singers of the woodland 



Contopus virens , ,__ , _. . . . . 



L 6 so inches ^ e P^w'ee is the sentimentalist. 

 May isth His short song of three or four notes 



appeals to us wholly by reason of its apparently emo- 

 tional nature. It is to be classed along with Stephen 

 Foster's Old Folks at Home, or the famous old Irish 

 melody, The Last Rose of Summer. The little fel- 

 low sings along with the Hermit Thrush, in the region 

 of the White Mountains, but how absolutely different is 

 the burden of his song ! There is a touch of sadness to 

 the few notes of the Wood Pewee, there are joy and glad- 

 ness in the soaring lyric of the Hermit Thrush. Nor is 

 this little woodland Flycatcher attractive in appearance; 

 he is the plainest of birds, as well as the plainest of 



*My friend, Professor Patton of Dartmouth College, called my 

 attention to a similar construction of the song. 



38 



