CHAPTER XII 



THE DABTFOUD WARBLER 



{How to save our Bare Birds) 



The most interesting chapter in John Burroughs' 



Fresh Fields contains an account of an anxious 



hurried search after a nightingale in song, at a 



time of the year when that " creature of ebullient 



heart" somewhat suddenly drops into silence. 



A few days were spent by the author in rushing 



about the country in Surrey and Hampshire, 



with the result that once or twice a few musical 



throbs of sound, a triU, a short detached phrase, 



were heard — just enough to convince the eager 



Ustener that here was a vocalist beautiful beyond 



all others, and that he had missed its music by 



appearing a very few days too late on the scene. 



During the last seven or eight years I have 



read this chapter several times with undiminished 



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