ii 



as they are never at rest and the song 

 bubbles out like the continuous overflow 

 of a gurgling spring. 



Frank M. Chapman, in referring to 

 the song of this diminutive irrepressible, 

 says : " It is a wonderful outburst of 

 song and the diminutive singer's en- 

 thusiasm and endurance even more re- 

 markable." The song occupies about 

 three seconds, and I have heard a wren, 

 in response to a rival, sing at the rate 

 of ten songs a minute for two hours at 

 a time." 



A rival of the wren in song, energy 

 and endurance is the ruby-crowned 

 kinglet, one of the smallest of our small 

 birds, with a body little larger than a 

 hummingbird. A vocal organ no larger 

 than ordinary pin heads, 

 controlled by microscopic 

 muscles, this tiny musi- 

 cian gives voice to a 

 refined bubbling warble 

 of several seconds' dur- 

 ation and of sufficient 

 volume to be distinctly 

 heard at a distance of 

 two hundred yards in 

 the woods, and is con- 

 Ruby Crowned sidered one of the most 

 Kinglet. marvellous performances 

 (Regulus of the world of avian 

 calendula.) vocalists. 



No student can forget 

 the sensation of his first introduction to 

 the song of the ruby-crown. 



The thrushes occupy 

 the head of the list from 

 the scientific standpoint, 

 and certainly from the 

 aesthetic point of view 

 they do not occupy an 

 inferior rank as ideal 

 birds. In their whole 

 lives there cannot be 

 Golden Crowned found a shred of coarse- 

 Kinglet, ness or frivolous vanity. 

 (Regulus satrapa) Rich of plumage) th e y 



are of quiet colors, in 

 harmony with their gentle and quiet 

 lives. The musical performances are 

 also in strict harmony with their other 

 characters, and as musicians they rank 

 as star performers in the avian chorus. 



Reference has been made to the bobo- 

 link and rosebreasted grosbeak as stars 

 of avian song, and without any inequal- 

 ity in rank, we may describe the differ- 

 ence in the character of the three efforts. 



The bobolink's performances may be 



Grey-cheeked Thrush. 

 (Turdus alicae). 



considered the rhapsodies and rose- 

 breasted grosbeak's the sonatas, while 

 the music of the thrushes constitute the 

 nocturnes of classical avian music. 



Their voices possess a ventriloqual 

 character, which, assisted by the undem- 

 onstrativeness of the singer, enshrouds 

 him in a veil of mystery that lends a 

 fascinating charm to the song and be- 

 speaks a soul buried in an inspiration 

 not of earth, enwrapped by a spirit 

 of heavenly peace. 



The Wilson thrush or veery and the 

 olive-backed are our two local breeding 

 forms, very num- 

 erous in all our 

 woods. The ven- 

 triloquil powers of 

 the former are 

 very remarkable. 

 One can hear the 

 whirling " Veery, 

 veery, veery," a s 

 distinctly at a 

 quarter of a mile 

 as at a few yards, 



and distance lends little change to the 

 quality of the tone. I have stood with- 

 in six feet of a veery singing and have 

 been quite unable f o locate the singer by 

 the volume of song. 



The song of the olive-backed is, in 

 general character, not distinguishable 

 from that of the hermit thrush, the 

 difference of surroundings only lending 

 the greater charm to the latter's effort. 



The breeding range of the olive-backed 

 is more general in the mixed woods of 

 Manitoba, while the hermit confines him- 

 self more to the solitudes of the conifer- 

 ous forests of the north, and here his 

 marvellous musical performance may be 

 heard in all its grandeur, reverberating 

 through the rafters of Nature's ever- 

 green temple. It is a rich flood of song, 

 more animated and varied than that of 

 Wilson's, and is altogether the perform- 

 ance of an accomplished and undemon- 

 strative artist. 



John Burroughs has said that the 

 " Spheral, spheral," " Holy, holy, holy," 

 of the hermit thrush heard among the 

 evergreen forests is one of the most 

 marvellous vocal renditions of the bird 



There a sublime halo encircles him 

 which earns for him the title of " The 

 Spirit of the Pines." 



