WOOD NOTES WILD. 101 
This is repeated, evening to evening, without variation ; 
but after long waiting and many disappointments comes 
a change that is at once a surprise and a delight : — 
Ah - 4 ee, Ah - ee, Ah - ee, 
> 
D) 
Rye 
> 
N 
nT 
D) 
Ah - - - 00, Ah - 00, Ah - 00, 
This owl ascends the scale generally not more than one 
or two degrees; the charm lies in his manner of descent, 
sometimes by a third, again by a fourth, and still again 
by a sixth. At the outset one is inclined to decide that 
the descent is according to the chromatic scale; then the 
steps will seem too short, sounding not more than half so 
long as those of this scale. I can best describe it as 
a sliding tremolo,—a trickling down, like water over 
pebbles : — 
Ah + + - = 00, Ahb-oo, Ah-0oo, Ah- oo, 
Ah - oo. 
So rapidly and neatly is it done that an expert violinist 
could not easily reproduce it. Perhaps the descent of the 
whinny of a horse comes the nearest to it of any succes- 
sion of natural sounds. 
One September morning something woke me at two 
o'clock. My head was soon out of the window, and 
