150 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
of that of Dogs, and the Raven language he 
understood completely. But the ordinary ob- 
server seldom attains farther than to compre- 
hend some of the cries of anxiety and fear 
around him, often so unlike the accustomed 
carol of the bird, — as the mew of the Catbird, 
the lamb-like bleating of the Veery and his im- 
patient yeoick, the chaip of the Meadowlark, 
the tsowyee of the Chewink, the petulant psz¢ 
and ¢see of the Red-winged Blackbird, and the 
hoarse cooing of the Bobolink. With some 
of our most familiar birds the variety of notes 
is at its greatest. I have watched two Song 
Sparrows, perched near each other, in whom 
the spyglass could show not the slightest dif- 
ference of marking, even in the characteristic 
stains upon the breast, who yet chanted to each 
other, for fifteen minutes, over and over, two 
elaborate songs which had nothing in common, 
I have observed a similar thing in two Wood 
Sparrows, with their sweet, distinct, monoto- 
nous note; nor can I find it stated that the 
difference is sexual. Who can claim to have 
heard the whole song of the Robin? Taking 
shelter from a shower beneath an oak-tree, the 
other day, I caught a few of the notes which 
one of those cheery creatures, who love to sing 
in wet weather, tossed down to me through the 
drops. 
