156 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
a sort of piano adaptation, popularized for the 
million, of the rich notes of the Thrushes. He 
is not mentioned by Audubon among his favor- 
ites, and has no right to complain of the exclu- 
sion, Yet the birds which most endear summer 
are not necessarily the finest performers ; and 
certainly there is none whose note I could spare 
less easily than the little Chipping Sparrow, 
called hereabouts the Hairbird. To lie half 
awake on a warm morning in June, and hear 
that soft, insect-like chirp draw in and out with 
long, melodious pulsations, like the rising and 
falling of the human breath, condenses for my 
ear the whole luxury of summer. Later in the 
day, among the multiplicity of noises, the chirp- 
ing becomes louder and more detached, losing 
that faint and dream-like thrill. 
The bird-notes which have the most familiar 
fascination are perhaps simply those most inti- 
mately associated with other rural things. This 
applies especially to the earliest spring song- 
sters, Listening to these delicious prophets 
upon some of those still and moist days which 
slip in between the rough winds of March, and 
fill our lives for a moment with anticipated de- 
lights, it seems as if their varied notes were sent 
to symbolize all the different elements of spring 
association. The Bluebird appears to represent 
simply spring’s faint, tremulous, liquid sweet- 
