the lillooleet-lillooleet, to an indefinite length, 

 292 . 



instead of stopping at the second or third 



'^il/ooIeeF repetition, which is the rule with good singers. 

 f-^_jCiffIe Then they would come out of the shadow. 

 Voice ^'^^ ^^^^ about briskly, and sing again with 

 an air of triumph. 



One day, while lying still in the under- 

 brush, watching a wood mouse, Killoeleet, a 

 fine male bird and a perfect singer, came and 

 sang on a branch just over my head, not 

 noticing me. Then I discovered that there 

 is a trill, a tiny grace note or yodel, at the 

 end of his second note. I listened carefully 

 to other singers, as close as I could get, and 

 found that it is always there, and is the one 

 difficult part of the song. You must be very 

 close to the bird to appreciate the beauty of 

 this little yodel ; for ten feet away it sounds 

 like a faint cluck, interrupting the flow of the 

 third note; and a little farther away you 

 cannot hear it at all. 



Whatever its object, Killooleet regards this 

 as the indispensable part of his song, and 

 never goes on to the third note unless he 

 gets the second perfectly. That accounts 



