BIRD NOTES. rae 
tiny impulsive torrent? The temperate guide of the music-box 
cylinder yields a long and pleasing strain to the ear; but what 
is the chaos when from defective machinery that barrel is per- 
mitted to revolve its circuit in a few seconds! Such is the par- 
allel always suggested by this song of the bobolink. I feel that 
beneath all that dizzy tintinnabulary some rare melody is smoth- 
ered. O Bob! what precious strain might we not disclose to the 
world could we but control the wild spring impulse within your 
*- breast and put a fly-wheel on your vocal machinery! 
From time to time through a long period of years I have 
added an occasional note or two to my singular vocabulary caught 
from this meadow doggerel—a syllable here, a word there, from 
my trip across the meadow, a few more from my covert by the 
stone wall, or a whole string of them as I lay beneath the elder- 
bush, while the minstrel swayed upon the blossomed roof over- 
head. Certain notes would seem easily translatable, almost as 
though implying an Anglo-Saxon intention on the part of the 
bird, but others can only be phonetically suggested. Here is the 
list, copied from my random notes covering a number of years. 
And what a pot-pourrt they make when strung together, with oc- 
casional interpolations for sequence! 
“ Bob o’ 4k o’ love oO’ lucky o’ linkum o’ linkum a jingle a jin- 
gle a ditty bob for bonny Missus Linkum see see keep an eye 
up here my sweet see see hear me tinkle tinkle sprinkle such a 
liquid mellow glee wet your whistle bob temperance O gush a 
gurgle scatter splatter such a carol as she alone can follow fol- 
low pipe it pipe it bob O tintinnabulate for temperance temper- 
ance whink a seeble seeble here I go across the clover sprink 
a jinkle sprinkle treble burst a bubble purl a babble gabble glee 
shake it out upon the meadow chink a link a wheedle see 
look’ee look’ee ninkum ninkum deacon yonder see yessir yessir 
funny fellow he whew whew but I must seek a rest for my cap 
is coming off and I can hardly keep my jacket on whew tem- 
perance temperance.” 
But why attempt the impossible? Why add another to the 
many parodies of this elusive meadow song? The phonograph 
