Song Birds and Water Fowl 



wherein the sentiment seems all contained in 

 an incomparably simple upward slide of about 

 a "minor third," there is nothing more strik- 

 ing or familiar than the pewee's elegy of tears, 

 that everywhere delightfully saddens the silence 

 of the woods. It is the very acme of simplicity 

 and gentle plaintiveness ; and, while the grim 

 scientist forbids us to call it a song, he must 

 be to the last degree obtuse who does not feel 

 therein the most pathetic sentiment of sound. 



To the careless listener there seem to be but 

 narrow limits to the possible variation of effects 

 from all the woodland choir : but, to the re- 

 sponsive mind, there is endless diversity in all 

 this poetry of tone that so delightfully re-echoes 

 and intensifies the changeful moods of Nature ; 

 whose endless scenery appeals so deeply to 

 man's heart just because it is the timely and 

 delicate expression of many a deep, vague 

 thought that never comes to human utterance. 



il8 



