A LABRADOR SPRING 
the rare occasions when we did not lose each 
other. 
Perhaps the most frequent and certainly the 
most prominent bird song heard near this river 
was that of the fox sparrow. Its wonderfully 
clear flute-like notes came forth from the 
spruces at all times of day, delivered with a 
great precision, and with a mastery of tech- 
nique that can scarcely be rivalled in the bird 
chorus. One who has heard only the imperfect 
songs of this bird in its brief passage through the 
eastern States, and before the ecstasy of its 
passion has been attained, can not realize the 
intensity and scope of its love utterances in its 
breeding home. It was a song that one could 
not but admire for the beauty and richness of 
its performance, but at the same time one felt 
that it lacked the charm, the soul, the spirit- 
uality or whatever one may call it that applies 
so forcibly to the divine song of the hermit 
thrush or the simpler melody of the white- 
throated sparrow, songs of which one never 
tires. 
Sometimes the brightest gems are buried in 
obscure and unexpected places. In one of the 
scientific publications of the Boston Society 
246 
