5 8 
AS THE YEAR GROWS 
ventriloquial melody that eludes and mystifies the 
listener. It puts the eye and ear at variance. “ It 
cannot be that bird, for the song comes from else- 
where.” Now it is in the Pine overhead, again in the 
impenetrable Cedar just behind, and still again it 
seems to come from the surrounding atmosphere. 
But there sits the musical ventriloquist on the 
slender limb, clearly outlined against the sky. 
Suddenly he throws off the disguise, opens his 
bill and pours his song out to the sunshine, to 
blend with the spontaneous life of the growing 
woods. 
