150 WOOD NOTES WILD. 



WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. Contin. 



" The ordinary note of the white-throated sparrows is a rather feeble 

 ' tseep,' much like that of the fox-colored sparrows, and indeed of other 

 birds. Their song is sweet, clear, and exquisitely delicate, consisting of 

 whistled notes which have been likened to the words, ' Old Sam Peabody, 

 Peabody, Peabody, Peabody.' This song is often somewhat varied, and 

 again snatches or parts of it are sometimes sung. It is more often 

 whistled in the morning and at evening than at any other times of the 

 day, and it may be sometimes heard at night." Minot, H.D.: Land-birds 

 and Game-birds of N. E., p. 219. 



" In New England, the song of the green warbler is interpreted as a 

 prayer to Saint Theresa. In Michigan, a lover of bird-music has given 

 the same interpretation to the song of the white-throated sparrow, Zono- 

 trichia albicollis, Bonap. The latter is heard sometimes in the natural 

 groves bordering the outskirts of the newer villages, in the northern 

 part of the State, but generally only in the wilder and more desolate 

 depths of the forest. The notes are inimitably clear, sweet, and plain- 

 tive ; and it requires only a moderate play of the imagination to convert 

 the song into the petition, ' Oh hear me, Theresa, Theresa, Theresa ! ' 



" It is not easy to express bird-songs by musical notation. In this case 

 we may approximate success by using the flute stop of a cabinet organ, 

 giving a half-note each in C, G, and E of the second octave of the treble 

 clef, followed lightly by three eighth-notes and an eighth-rest in E, twice 

 repeated, as follows : 



i 



I' ^-^ " 



v I/ 



" The first three measures correspond to the words ' Oh hear me/ and 

 the last three to the name of the saint, ' Theresa/ three times pronounced, 

 with the accent on the first syllable. The arrangement of musical sounds 

 indicated above appears to constitute the most perfect and complete form 

 of the song ; but it is varied in different localities and by different per- 

 formers, as if among birds of the same species there were different degrees 

 of musical talent and different fashions in musical education. In one 

 place, where I had excellent opportunities to listen, the last three meas- 

 ures were seldom heard, 1 or when heard, consisted each of a half-note. 

 Of the first three half-notes, one or other is sometimes omitted. The song 

 is sometimes heard in the night. 



1 Was not this due rather to the season than to the place ? See p. 43. 



