FAMILY Tynnnldao. 



be sustained for at least a second. Then, for the better 

 part of the bird's song, his pee-a-wee, all that is required 

 is to whistle in a very slow, dragging fashion, first a 

 clear high note, then one exactly a fourth below that, 

 and finally one a minor third above the one last men- 

 tioned. That is literally all there is to the song; the 

 variations are too unimportant to mention. Dots and 

 dashes will fairly represent the idea, 



*"X 

 \ 



I 



Peer/ fto*w. Peer! 



but it seems as though the very plain position of the 

 notes on the musical staff ought to be intelligible to all 

 persons whether music readers or not. 



'Twice 8va ..... etc sempre Tegato 



f -\ I " i Lsf >/- 



fee - a - wee Pe-e-rf Pee -a wee 



The grace note attached to the note representing the first 

 syllable is an extremely important one; a sharp ear will 

 readily detect an ascending tone to pec, and in some 

 cases it will be discovered that the little introductory 

 tone is almost independent of the next one and justly 

 deserves to be counted the first of four tones in the 

 song.* It is impossible, also, for me to put too much 

 stress on what a musician would call its legato char- 

 acter; there is no bird which compares with the Wood 

 Pewee in sheer laziness of style ; he does not attempt to 

 "hit" a note squarely, he reaches for it with all the 

 sentimentality (but none of the vulgarity) of the inex- 

 perienced and uncultivated singer, capturing us in spite 

 of his error by the perfect sweetness of his voice. How 

 inimitably dignified and graceful is his rendering of that 

 familiar but rather flippant aria in Auber's Fra Diavolo : 



* This more complete form of the Pewee's song belongs to the 

 Quotlal season. 



40 



