THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 141 



about the current and raspberry bushes, he de- 

 lights in taking short and frequent riotous baths 

 in the Arno and immediately flies to the tops of 

 trees to dress his plumage and between dressing 

 acts, delightfully pours forth crystal song that 

 fairly glistens. 



Some one writes about his singing, "He 

 starts off with a few low, rattling notes, makes 

 a quick leap to a high strain, ascends through 

 many a melodious variation to the key note 

 and suddenly stops, leaving his song to sing 

 itself through in your brain." 



Another said he seems to say, "Press-press- 

 press-by-tee-rian-ian!" The fact is you can 

 read most anything into his song but the song 

 itself is inexpressible. His voice is a clear 

 tenor and he uses it with great culture and 

 power. 



There is a special one in our garden and 

 this seems to be his song, "Swe-et, swe-et, sweet 

 and bitter swe-et," and then repeats it with deli- 

 cate variations as if in love with its rich tones. 

 He certainly tosses it off in a most jaunty man- 

 ner as if there was really no "bitter" in his 

 life. Several times I have heard him sing lusti- 

 ly on the wing, while dropping from a high 

 tree-top. His nest is down by the Arno, very, 



