78 BIRD PARADISE 



they all went finally to the swamp, where I heard 

 them still later in the day telling their blackbird 

 story with the same fervor as when I first saw 

 them early in the day. 



At five o'clock this morning I stood in my 

 orchard and yielded a listening ear to the con- 

 cert of the birds. The singers were everywhere, 

 on all sides of the place where I was standing. 

 The air was clear and warm, and the sun just 

 lifting its broad face above the horizon. I was 

 curious to know how many of the different 

 species were lifting their voices in common on the 

 occasion. I jotted down the names, and here 

 they are : Eobins, grackle, flickers, orioles, 

 hawks, red-headed woodpeckers, marsh spar- 

 rows, crows, starlings, warblers, swallows, 

 meadow-larks, pewees, tree sparrows, vireos, 

 English sparrows, wrens, vesper sparrow, bob- 

 olinks, purple-crowned sparrows, chimney-swifts, 

 twenty-one in all — a very fair showing for such 

 an early hour, and a very fair concert. Curious 

 how this morning festival of song is rendered 

 daily, and the listener of even the most critical 

 taste never detects any discord in the perform- 

 ance ! The fact is, there are no discords in 



