The Breckenridge news., 1910-09-28

! 1t was not a loud song, but very mu.
sical and attractive, and the bird is
said to sing practically all through the
year The song of the wren inter
ested me much, because 1t was not In
the least like that of our house wrens,
but, on the contrary, like that of our
winter wren The theme is the same
as the winter wren's, but the song did
not seem to me to be so brilliantly mu.
sical as that of the tiny singer OF the
north woods. The sedge warbler sang
in the thick reeds a mocking ventrilo.
quial lay, which reminded me at times
of the less pronounced parts Of our
yellow breasted chats song. The
cuckoos cry was singularly attractive
and musical far more so than the
rolling, many times repeated. note Of
our rain-crow.
Ten days later, at Sycamore Hill, !
was among my own birds, and was
much interested as | listened to and
looked at them in remembering the
notes and actions of the birds | had
seen in England. On the evening of
the first day | sat in my rocking
chair on the broad veranda, looking
across the sound towards the glory of
the sunset. The thickly grassed hill
side sloped down in front of me to a
belt of forest from which rose the
golden, leisurely Ginning of the wood
thrushes, chanting their vespers;
through the still air came the warble
of vireo and tanager; and after night.
fall we heard the flight song of an
oven bird from the same belt of tim
ber Overhead an oriole saaS in the
weeping elm, now and then breaking
his song to scold like an overgrown
wren. Song sparrows and cat birds
sang in the shrubbery; one robin had
built its nest over the front, and one
over the back door, and there was a
chippy's nest in the wisteria vine by
the porch. During the next "a hours |
saw and heard, either right around the
house or while walking down to bathe
through the. woods, the following AZ
birds:
Little Green Heron, Quail, Red Tail
ed Hawk, Yellow Billed Cuckoo,
Kingfisher, Flicker, Hummingbird.
Swift Meadow Lark, Red Winged
BlackDlrd, Sharp Tailed Finch, Song
Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Bush
Sparrow Purple Finch, Baltimore
Oriole, Cowbunting, Robin, Scarlet
Thrush, Thrasher, Cat Bird, Scarlet
Tanager, Red-Eyed Vireo Yellow War
bier, Black -Throated Green Warbler,
King Bird, Wood Pewee, Crow. Blue
Jay, Cedar Bird, Maryland Yellow
Throat, Chickadee, Black and White
Creeper, Barn Swallow. White Breasted
Swallow, Oven Bird, Th:stlefinch, Yes
perfinch, Indigo Bunting, Towhee,
Grasshopper Sparrow and Screech
Owl.
| sent the companion of my English
walk John burroughs Birds and
Poets" John Burroughs life work is
beginning to have its full effect in
many different lines When he first
wrote there were few men of letters
in our country who knew nature at
first hand. Now there are many who
delight in our birds, who know their
to out-of-doors life. For instance, Mad
ison Cawein and Ernest McGaffy have
! for number of years written of our
woods and fields, of the birds and the
flowers, as only those can write who
Join to love of nature the gift of OBJ
servation and the gift of description
Mr.. Cawein is a Kentuckian; and an.
other Kentuckian, Miss Julia Stockton
Di--smore, in the little volume OF
poems which she has just published
includes many which describe with
beauty and charm the sights and
sounds so dear to all of us who
know American country life. Miss
Dinsmore knows Kentucky, and the
gulf coast of Louisiana, and the great
plains of North Dakota; and she knows
also the regions that lie outside oi
what can be seen with material vision
For years in our family we have had
some of her poems in the scrap book
cut from newspapers when we knew
nothing about her except the initials
signed in the verses. Only one who
sees with the eyes OF the spirit as wei
as the eyes of the body could have
written the "Threnody," curiously at
tractive in its simplicity and pathos
with which the little book opens. Il
contains many poems that make a sim
liar appeal The writer knows blue
bird and robin, redbird and field larl
and whippoorwill, just as she knows
southern rivers and western plains
she knows rushing winds and running
waters and the sights and sounds o
lonely places and moreover. sh'
knows and almost tells those hidder
things of the heart which never f1nC
complete utterance
THEODORE ROOSEVELT