86 



FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



is sure to be in full session at no great distance down 

 in the copse on the meadow border. But the crow 



is not unmusical after all. 

 His "caw" is a note 

 of decisive emphasis 

 which can not be justly 

 slighted in the grand 

 orchestra of Nature. The 

 tone of it has that wood- 

 en, reedlike quality which 

 best represented by the oboe, 

 an instrument of a singularly pastoral 

 nature. Haydn fully appreciated this 

 fact, and in his oratorio of The Seasons 

 gave it a very prominent position not 

 only in a fine adagio, but in a long 

 The musical Crow, solo imitating the crowing of a rooster. 

 Notice bow nicely the notes follow 

 the last part of the " crow " by sliding down the 

 chromatic scale. ,, ^ ,— 



Here is a case 

 where a great 

 musician followed the suggestion of Nature very 

 closely ; and I could enumerate several others iu 

 which Nature's intention was most admirably carried 

 out. However, I can only record one extreme in- 

 stance, which is as pathetic as it is interesting ; and 



