68 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
but the note was repeated too many times, and came in 
too exactly on the beat.” 
Several of the sparrows modulate their notes so as to 
greatly deceive in regard to distance. In riding along 
country roads how often one looks 4way into fields to 
see the vesper sparrow (Powcetes gramineus), when it is 
singing from its perch close by, on a fence stake. The 
song of the field sparrow (Spizella pusilla) is still more 
deceiving. One is also often puzzled to locate the notes 
of the Baltimore oriole (Jcterus galbula). Both sexes 
have, to a certain extent, this power to mislead, and 
what is still more curious, the young birds will often 
perplex one in regard to their whereabouts. 
Few birds with soft voices can project their notes 
farther than can the cuckoos, but often in the near 
presence of man there is such a ‘remoteness’ about 
their mellow “coo, coo,” that only the trained ear of an 
ornithologist can readily locate the bird. Burroughs 
speaks of their “clairvoyant call,’ and Wordsworth, 
without giving it a name, recognized this quality when 
he sings of the cuckoo: 
«‘ While I am lying on the grass, 
Thy loud note smites my ear ; 
From hill to hill it seems to pass : 
At once far off and near.” 
Lowell, in his charming sketch, “My Garden 
Acquaintance,” notices this habit of the robins: “When 
they come after my cherries to the tree near my window, 
they always muffle their voices, and their faint peep 
sounds far away at the bottom of the garden. The 
