THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



55 



THE WATER-LILY. 



BY JULIA M. HOOPER. 



Deep and dark is the bed of my birth, 

 Long is the stem that connects me 

 with earth. 

 As onward and upward, I wend my way, 

 Throu' weeds and throu' water to sun- 

 light and day. 

 Then iDetals, milk-white, I unfold, one 

 by one. 

 Till my deep golden heart is laid bare 

 to the sun. 

 Then I dance and I float, as I gaze at 

 the sky. 

 And breezes brush softly, in passing 

 me by; 

 With raindrops and dewf all, I bathe my 

 white face. 

 And ripples run past me, but I keep 

 my place. 



NOTES OF THE SONG -SPARROW. 



BY HARRY E. MILLER, CROTON PALLS, N. Y. 



Just the exact number of different 

 songs that the song-sparrow is capable 

 of singing is yet to be found out, still, 

 as many as twenty-five have been rec- 

 ognized — a fact showing for itself that 

 in changes of song this sparrow is not 

 surpassed by any other of its family. I 

 have attempted to translate the notes of 

 each song by itself but have not ap- 

 proached the original near enough to 

 deem it worthy of appearing in print. 

 Some of the notes being delivered with 

 such rapidity that they are too quick for 

 the ear to divide from the rest, and then 

 transfer to paper; but could one do all 

 this, another difBculty presents itself, 

 and that is, to find expressions for the 

 notes so that others as well as yourself 

 may see resemblance to the real note. 

 In order to hear all the notes plainly, 

 one should be close to the musician as 

 some of the lower utterances will not be 

 heard a short distance away; then too, 

 the same song is not repeated many 

 times bofore the singer strikes off into 

 another strain and it may be a week or 



more before you hear the first notes 

 again. The notes that I intend to give 

 are especially early spring notes while 

 in the mating and breeding season the 

 writer has heard songs which are, with- 

 out doubt, restricted to this time. Each 

 song begins with two, three or four 

 opening notes which are uttered slow 

 enough to enable one to copy as I have 

 done below. The principal change in 

 the songs occur in these first notes. 



1. K-leap, k-leap, k-leap; tone some- 

 what of a tinkling sound; short k; rest 

 on the e which follows the last k-leap. 



3- Tung-tung-tung. 3, Ting, ting-ting. 

 Both of these are bell toned. 4. Te-te-te. 

 5. Kir-kir-kir. Sometimes uttered slow 

 at other times rapid. 6. Teep-teep-teep. 

 7. Tum-tum-tum: quick bell toned sound- 

 ing much like number two. 5. Tump- 

 tump-tump. 9. Cliur-chur-chur. 10. Tee- 

 lup-tee-lup-tee-Jup. The rest of the song 

 following the opening notes is made up 

 of a series of tiuklings, warblings, lisp- 

 ings, trembles and trills, in all, one of 

 the sweetest songs to be heard should 

 you travel the world over. The songs 

 are not always sung at the some pitch 

 or in the same time often causing con- 

 fusion to the listener. I have seen this 

 sparrow sitting out in some of our hard- 

 est thunder storms when all other birds' 

 voices were hushed, pouring forth his 

 tinkling notes sounding above the steady 

 pour of the rain, his music drowned 

 momentarily by the deep roar of the 

 thunder. 



It seems as if the day was not wholly 

 profane, in which we have given heed 

 to some natural object. — Emerson. 



Nature is always consistent though 

 she feigns to contravene her own laws. 

 She keeps her laws and seems to tran- 

 scend them. She arms and equips an 

 animal to find its place and living in 

 the earth, and, at the same time, she 

 arms and equips another animal to de- 

 stroy it. — Emerson. 



mJitU 



