. Familiar life in field and forest; the animals, birds, frogs, and salamanders . e never so subtleat following a musical cadence, it can not be quickenough to catch the full beauty of the last notes of ACCOMPLISHED VOCALISTS. 93 this eccentric singer; they must be heard over andover again to be remembered. They remind one ofthe weird effect of an aeolian harp or a singing tele-graph pole,* but they are twice as mysterious. But the most mysterious singer of the woodlandis the chipper and restless little redstart (Setophagarutieilla), whose jet - blackhead and orange shoul-ders are continuallyp
. Familiar life in field and forest; the animals, birds, frogs, and salamanders . e never so subtleat following a musical cadence, it can not be quickenough to catch the full beauty of the last notes of ACCOMPLISHED VOCALISTS. 93 this eccentric singer; they must be heard over andover again to be remembered. They remind one ofthe weird effect of an aeolian harp or a singing tele-graph pole,* but they are twice as mysterious. But the most mysterious singer of the woodlandis the chipper and restless little redstart (Setophagarutieilla), whose jet - blackhead and orange shoul-ders are continuallyperking out from thebordering green of thehighway, and surprising one & J r & ^ The Redstart. by a sudden and transient glimpse of bright color. This little fellow does notperch on the tree-top like the indigo bird and thescng sparrow when he sings ; he evades the publiceye, and chirrups on the other side of the tree fromthe inquisitive observer. His song, much moresprightly than that of the veery, and much less seri-ous, runs thus: c„, ^ -—^ ^ He is ever for an in-. on the alert mm t ^si sect, and never J ch*-we ae-we-m-weaie-weo. hesitates tocut his song short when a tempting mouthful meetshis eye in the shape of some crawly bug on a * In extremely cold weather, if ones ear is placed against thetelegraph pole one will hear a remarkable harmonic vibration ofthe wires, like that of an aeolian harp. 94 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. leaf near by. The ching a-wee, cher-wee, wee— ! quite as often ends abruptly as otherwise, and thereis one less insect in the shrubbery. A still more mysterious singer in the wildwood,one who sings along with the hermit thrush and who has the ever evaded my watchful eyes,wood pewee (Contopus virens).I have seen fifty thrushes to onepewee, and yet have heard bothsinging at the same time and inthe same wood. At last, in thepast season, I saw the pewee: aplainly attired little creature, withrusty black back and gray-whitebreast. There he was, o
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