The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-03-20
SWEETEST SONG BIRDS.
Haitian songsters Will Not Live Long
In Captivity.

| III SdPtlVltys
A New Yorker and a newly-made &C.
quaintance from abroad were walking
in lower Sixth avenue. The foreigner
was Haitian patriot or solder of for
tune, whichever you choose to call him.
at all events temporarily an exile in
New York, says the Rev York Sun
The New Yorker had made his ac-
qua1ntance in a place of refreshment
which of late years has become a rem
devious Tor the writer's and artists who
live in that quarter of the city. The
Haitian had strolled in and had made
| himself interesting.
He had described the tyranny that
oppressed his island republic in volu-
bic broken English, elucidated by
strange Latin gestures. Later he had
expressed wish to see the points of
| interest in New York. The New Yorker
had offered his services as a guide,
Suddenly the Haitian stopped short
and grasped the New Yorker by the
arm.
'sacre nom!" he exclaimed, did you
hear zat?"
What? Where?" the New Yorker
asked, mystified.
"Over zere in re leetle bird store. 1t
is rorganiste.'
listened, and presently above the clat-
ter of trucks on the cobblestones. the
harsh rumble of the elevated railroad,
the New Yorker heard a tremulous bird
note, protracted and marVelously sweet.
1t was an overtone that the Haitian's
keener and fresher ears had detected in
in the confusing elamor of the city.
Eyes, it is forganiste,'' he said ex-
citedly. re zird cannot be Gagged.
How came he here to zis mad New
York;"
They hurried across to the little
store. The New Yorker, too, had been
In the West Indies, and the song he
had just heard had brought the past
back to him with rush. He was al
most as excited as his companion when
the bird that perched with ruffled plum
age in brass cage in the window
came in view. It was indeed rorganiste.
or, as the New Yorker had heard it
called, the solitaire. They tried to buy
it from a wizoned old man who kept
the place, but he shook his head.
i would not hurt my reputation by
selling 1t to either of you," he said,
That bird will not live three DAYS. I
am the only man who ever brought a
specimen TO New York, and all that
l have experimental with have died.
This one is pining away already. Oh.
yes, they're exquisite songsters and
would make popular cage birds If they
would live, but they cannot stand con-
finement"
It was an interesting subject. and the
bird fancier, the Haitian and the New
part Of two hours. At the end of that
time they had arrived at the following
facts:
When a visitor arrives in Haiti. ia
maica or any of the other West Indian
Islands, IL is as likely as not that he will
be asked, 'Have you heard the solitaire?"
or Have you heard Porganiste? No. |
well thought not, but don't return home
before you do. You'll miss the treat of
your life IL you miss that"
The visitor may regard this as exag-
geration or local pride. but 1t does not
take him long to change his mind. Many
are those from northern countries who
have gone into raptures over this singer
that cannot be Gagged, and is, in conse-
quence, little known outside Of it's native
islands.
The song of the solitaire is neither elab-
crate nor varied. Tt might even be
only utters one protracted note, single
minor chord that, beginning low down, |
flows toward the listener with ever-in-
creasing strength until II reaches its elf
max and dies dreamily away.
Between chords there is a long pause
then suddenly its strikes upon the ear
once more. occasionally In another key
altogether. A second bird replies, then
third, and across the intervening space
they seem TO speak to each other in their
own language.
But IL it is a pleasure TO listen to one
or two so1itaries, ii is impossible to de-
scribe the effect produced when a dozen
or more gather in some quiet glade and
sing in chorus. Often before the note of
one bird has died away another viii re-
ply in such perfect tune with its prede-
cessor that ii is like some strain from a
beautiful anthem. And so they sing on:
each independently, yet without seeming
to clash and at times achieving some ex-
traordinary combinations of melody.
Some one has described it as 1.-THE
sweetest, the most solemn and most I'M
earthly of all the woodland singing that
] have ever heard" and II would be diff