Music of the Wild 



est unless you have remained for so manj' all-night 

 concerts that j'ou are familiar with the parts of 

 The all the musicians. At night only a few grasshop- 

 Midnight pg^.g gj.g vocalizing, the crickets never cease, and 

 the katy-dids tune up for their star performance. 

 Daytime feathered singers as a rule tuck their 

 heads and go to sleep early, and the absence of the 

 wavering accompaniment of their varied voices 

 gives peculiar pause and tonal color to ensuing 

 notes that are of themselves sufficiently emphatic 

 and startling. Almost always the Avind dro^is on 

 summer evenings, and a great silence so deep it 

 enwraps you as a garment and fills your soul with 

 awe seems to creej) from the very heart of the for- 

 est. A\nien not dominated by tree and bird music, 

 insect voices ring out shrill and high, and the whip- 

 poor-M'ill finds truly artistic pause and setting for 

 its remarkable vocal performance. No other bird 

 of all ornithology lifts its voice and in such clear 

 and distinct English enunciates what it has to say. 

 Almost every naturalist and musician afield re- 

 cording bird notes disagrees as to the utterance 

 and inflection of some of our plainest talkers. 

 There is no difference of opinion whatever about 

 this bird. To every one it says too plainly to ad- 

 mit questioning, "Whi])-poor-will!" 



Near the same time tlie niglit hawk takes flight 

 during tlie breeding season. After family cares 

 are over I have seen bands of them come sweeping 



108 



