68 STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. 
from heaven through the maple-tree above us. “You are weary: 
we see it: listen to mé: meekly: cheery are wé: O why 2s it: 
verily verily: ¢hzs is it: holy spirit: devoteé: verily verily: there 
we owe it: delieve me: ’tis real: we know it: Selah!” 
It is the voice of the “preacher” celebrating his matins in his 
temple of the tree-top, and filling the morning with unremitting 
praise and counsel—the most sustained and tireless song, and the 
most communicative voice among all our birds. No other one 
of them speaks so clearly in our own tongue, or seems so much 
to imply a listener. As will be seen, the song is not a rapid, 
elusive warble. It is a deliberate, continuous recitative rather 
than a song, each phrase followed by a distinct pause, and each 
pause seeming to formulate with an oracular effect the brief pas- 
sage which follows, all of which are variously accented and full 
of variety of inflection, as I have endeavored to indicate. 
Often have I sat by the hour beneath his shrine, and long is 
the list of mellifluous exclamations, exhortations, texts, and pre- 
cepts which I have caught from his votive throat. On one occa- 
sion alone I filled my page, and though he had been in continu- 
ous song for exactly three-quarters of an hour, I left him ere he 
had reached his “ secondly.” 
Bringing my testimony to date, I can add furthermore that 
during last July, subsequent to the writing of the above in a 
magazine article, he surpassed himself in eloquence. At that 
time I occupied my summer studio in the woods. He had me 
at an advantage and did most commendable missionary work. 
On one particular morning, at nine o'clock, he greeted me with 
his “listen to me” and “there we owe it”; and having thus 
voiced his theme, preached without ceasing until half-past twelve, 
at which hour, when I left for luncheon, he was yet undiminished 
jin unction, and apparently no nearer the benediction than when 
he announced his text. 
I have said that he speaks the human tongue, and in partial 
proof thereof I may mention that long before I knew of our 
red-eyed vireo’s title of “ Preacher’—given, I believe, by Wilson 
Flagg—I had noted down the “you know it” and “you see it” 
