THE VOICE OF THE SILENCE 35 
pecker family is apparent, but instead of seeking a 
dead trunk for wood-borers he digs for the sap in a 
healthy, vigorous limb* Perhaps he uses the sap to 
tempt insects* There he plies his noisy trade, while 
the inconceivable power that forces the juice 
through the solid fibre of the wood is exerted in 
perfect silence* Not even the Robin's ear, said to 
discern the moving of an angleworm, can detect 
the sound of the flowing sap* 
Put an ear to the trunk and listen, for the close, 
attentive effort makes the sound of surrounding 
growth discernible. There are blended tones that 
serve as a grey, indistinct background for the rapping 
of the Woodpecker signalling to his mate or pursuing 
his unromantic vocation, for the twittering of the 
acrobatic Nuthatch, or the almost inaudible plaint 
of the Wood Pewee* There seems a mysterious sound 
in the silence, and it may not be altogether fanciful 
to regard it as the sound of growth* On the Soft 
Maple thousands of buds are opening, and their 
strong scales are not turned back without the jarring 
of minute resistance. Is it really the ear that discerns 
a many-toned rustle i Some of the scales and buds 
are already dropping to the ground, heavy with the 
saturating shower* The Elm buds, too, are bursting 
open, and making their activity felt or heard, and the 
elongated catkins on the Willows are throwing off 
the coverings that sheltered them through the winter. 
