Song Birds and Water Fowl 



tate. It was not precisely musical, yet far 

 from unmusical : a wild, vague, restless sound, 

 somewhat in the mood of the complaining 

 wind that sighs through a dark passage ; soft, 

 melancholy notes, the over-tones that fittingly 

 accompany the moaning of the sea. At the 

 middle of the prolonged sound it is, as a 

 rule, suddenly inflected downward in a mourn- 

 ful cadence that is " sadly pleasing "; and when 

 not so inflected the simple note quite resembles 

 the soft cree of the red-winged blackbird. But 

 their voice is not always hung with crape ; 

 there is a hidden, snappy temper in their soul, 

 and sometimes they utter a sharp, rasping, vig- 

 orous note that ill comports with their mild- 

 ness. One writer compares it to the^sound 

 produced by forcibly tearing a piece of strong 

 cotton cloth. At first, I thought that their 

 general commotion and continuous lamentation 

 were due to their anxiety at my approaching 

 their nests ; but when I sat down and remained 

 perfectly quiet for half an hour, there was no 

 pause in their incessant flight and murmuring, 

 so I inferred it had no reference to me. 



One peculiarity of this bird is, that it is 

 continually varying the form of its tail when 

 flying. Sometimes it is no wider than a single 



rzS 



