VI 



FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR BIRD 

 SONGS 



WHENEVER I hear a bird lift his 

 free, wild voice in pasture or wood, 

 I thank Heaven that there is no such 

 personality as a singing teacher among 

 birds to mechanicalize bird voices, to make 

 their songs more finished, and that the 

 Creator alone rules their hymns of praise. 



Could I picture to you who have never 

 listened, in words that would half express 

 the sense of the delight, the peace, the 

 charm of listening in some corner of hal- 

 lowed Nature to simply the song of a bird, 

 I would willingly do so, but alas ! I cannot, 

 and must hope that from my descriptions, 

 poor as they are, you will seek to hear for 

 yourselves the songs that have so charmed 

 me and which from their lovehness defy 

 expression and interpretation. 



In "Summer Studies of Birds and 

 Books" by W. Warde Fowler, there is 

 an extremely interesting chapter " On the 



