RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 



doubling up of the vowel e must mean a sustained tone; 

 if this is so, then the cabalistic signs should appear thus: 



f '^'voxvo/a/a/v'x/va/ixvax 



Gug- lug-gee-e-e -e-e-e-ef 



By simply tapping and moving a pencil on a table this 

 way one can get the rhythm perfectly. If one should try 

 to whistle these three tones the difficulty would be great 

 but not insurmountable. It is only necessary to whistle 

 and say simultaneously, Gug-lug, with the second sylla- 

 ble about a third higher than the first, and then follow 

 that with a long-drawn geee in a tone midway between 

 the other two, but whistled and hummed simultaneously. 

 If anyone can do that, the sound produced will be a tol- 

 erable imitation of the Red-winged Blackbird's song ! 

 The advice seems not unlike the recipe in the imprac- 

 tical Cook Book: "Take a quart of cream," which was 

 echoed by the indignant housewife, who despairingly 

 added, "As if we kept a cow in the back yard!" Pos- 

 sibly the reader may also feel inclined to comment in- 

 dignantly, " As if I were a bird !" But one can easily 

 afford to pass the experiment if the general principle of 

 the rhythm is understood, for the Red-winged Blackbird 

 never fails to stick close to that. 



The written music appears almost as plain, although 

 there is never that accuracy of pitch in the Red-wing's 

 voice which would enable me to say he uses a perfect 

 third, or fourth, or sixth, as the case may be. 



To be sure the fellow is pardonably flat at times, and 

 then again distressingly sharp; but on the whole the 

 music is intelligible, welcome, and even inspiring, for it 

 is a joyous announcement that spring is at hand. There 

 is also, as William Hamilton Gibson writes, a felicitous 

 "gurgle and wet ooze in it," which reminds us of the 



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