Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-06-13

| Keep your ears well OEon, and try to
fix the songs In your mind A strang-
Ell may have trouble i;' telling the diff
| ference between y,1,r mothers and
big sisters voices, hut you have no
tr uble. If you love the sparrow fam
| lily long enough you will have no
trouble in knowing their voices. A
keen bird lover has only to hear a
| peep" when he can tell you the
name of the bird VINO made it.
| Birds voices are all made by lit.
tie organ in the wild r;Ie, called the
"syriny." 1t is much tie same III all
birds, acd consists Of little mem
brance mounted on rony framework,
which extends into the wind pipe just
where 1t branches to enter the lungs.
This little membrane is moved about
in the wind pipe, and is controlled by
muscles, which action produces the
sound The more finely developed the
muscles, the more musical is the
sound; so when you hear the crow Of
a rooster, the 'gobble-gobble' Of tur-
key, the cav of a crow, you will know
that the hardness Of their voices is
due to their lack of development, and
know that the sweet, soft MARBLE of
bluebird belongs to bird of higher
class. But 1t is a great wonder that
all these sounds are produced by
much the same sort of instruments.
There are other June singers be-
sides the birds Numbers of frogs and
toads sing for us. The toads do their
singing In April and SO do the little
peppers Of hylas. but the tree toads
and frogs of different kinds are in
full tune in June. All of them are
"bagpipers.s They swell out little
balloon under their ch1ns. and then
force the air out, making piping or
croaking sound.
Later in the year the insects tune up
in full chorus, but if the weather is
hot in June you will hear the cicada.
He is such hot weather insect that
we begin to fan ourselves when we
hear his voice. Did say voice?
should have said drums. There are
two Of these drums inside the cicada
and they are worked In a queer way
by muscles and cords. Take tin pan
and push the bottom in and then out.
1t will make a sharp banging. The
muscles and cords on the Gicada do
the suTne thing to his little drum
heads. and by doing it very fast on
both drums. the loud buzzing is made
which because of an old superstition,
makes a hot day seem hotter than
ever.
The grasshoppers play fiddles. Their
folded wings are the fiddles and their
hind legs. are the fiddle bows. One
grasshopper does not make much
noise. but meadow full is quite mu-
steal.
When you are In the country and
hear any sound that you do not know
find out what is making it. In this
way you will learn to know all the
singers in the neighborhood, and you
will be surprised to know how few
make no sound.
The woods are full of sounds, and
although 1t is very pleasant to think
that perhaps they are fairy songs,
when you find out about the real
fairies who make the music you will
be still more delighted. Then you
will be sorry for the people who walk
through the woods and fields, and do
not know that there is music on ev-
cry hand. They do not hear it be-
cause their ears are unframed.
When you are training your eyes do
not forget to also train your ears and
your nose. Each of these senses will
unlock delightful storehouse of
beauty. If you neglect one you will
miss much that will give you pleasure.
Keep your eyes, ears and nose alert
and when they tell you anything re-
member the first commandment of the
nature lover: BE inquisitive.' Find
out more about each sound, sight and
smell, and keep prying and prying in
to everything in the woods and you
will learn more than any book can
teach.-Walter King Stone in Chill
drens Magazine.