Music of the Wild 



the sucking sobs of its rocking branches they have 

 composed a song in harmony A^ith their surround- 

 ings; but to our ears this music contains the notes 

 with which Me ex^^ress sohtude, silence, and heart- 

 break. 



But the pewee knows nothing of this. All day 

 True he sings, and all of the season, which proves him 

 Forest ^ particularly haj^py bird, not dependent vipon the 

 intoxication of the mating fever or encouraging 

 a brooding mate with his notes. He sings as the 

 poet, because there is an all-the-time song in his 

 heart. In the great forest his notes fell to us 

 slowly and serenely ; why should he l^ubble and gur- 

 gle like a l)obolink? He of the majesty and soli- 

 tude of the forest! He of the high choir in the 

 house of the Almighty! Long-drawn, clear, ach- 

 ing with melody, through the solemn silence of the 

 forest, high above you comes his "Pee-a-Avee," and 

 just when you are wondering if that is all, he adds, 

 "Peer!" It is rather a stretch of the imagination 

 to call these notes a song; cry Avould seem closer, 

 but they are the sustained utterance of the bird. 

 His variations consist in repetition, with different 

 modulation and in unequal measure. 



I could detect tliat in the morning he hastened 

 a little, as if the business of life were too pressing 

 for the usual wait between notes. At noon, when 

 all other birds Mere dropsy with heat and scarcely 

 a song was heard, he broke the silence; and in the 



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