Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-30
The singers
81 SAMUEL sCovILLE, u.

Suppose Nfeiba sent word TO you that
HIie would sing for your benefit in your
tard at $3.50 o'clock tomorrow morning
Nouldn't YOU get up to hear herr Sup
pose n the same mail came a letter from
Wischa Elman that he would be glad to
accompany on his violin Tetrazzini and
eehumann- -Heink IN a patch of woods
near your house before breakfast, rain
uf shine think that probably the
chances are that you would be there
iast week, on April 10, listened TO
better singing than can be heard in grand
opera heard better performers than
Nubeiik or Mischa Elman, and the only
price l had to pay was getting UP
nalf hour earlier over beyond my house
ts little patch OF low trees. AS
passed through them brown bird hoped
upon a limb from the ground. He had n
faintly specified breast and his tail was
lighter brown than his back.
recognlzed the hermit thrush on his
way to his home in the north. Even as
watched him he suddenly opened his
peak and there sounded q cascade Of
liquid golden notes running inward in
stead Of downward like those OF his
cousin the wood thrush. Fully five min
utes he sang and then hoped down on
the ground and disappeared in the shrub
berry This was the first time that
had ever heard a hermit thrush sing
While In migration. Last year heard
tho veery. or Wilson's thrush, strike
those strange harp chords on his way
north They are not single notes, but
actual chords, with the soprano and alto
note IN each. That was the second
tifue that l had ever heard the veery
sing while travelling. Last summer 1 Law
n bed one rainy morning on the top of
Mount Pocono and through the falling
drops heard the sweet notes of the hermit
thrush sound before II was light. After
dawn the veery struck up and listened
70 thrush concert, which was well worth
travelling miles to hear.
Every morning l hear the silver flute
notes OK the little field sparrow, with his
pink beak and unmarked breast. His
1riillng Is higher and sweeter than even
Ietrazzini in Lucia" This morning In
my yard heard goldfnch chorus. It
sounded like whole tree full of canaries,
each one singing and trtlling with all his
might. Most of them were still in win
ter plumage, oliye-green, with white
bars, but here and there was a bright
yellow male in his black wings and cap
IN the garden L hear the notes of the
blue bird, who always sings alto. On
Sunday April Is. l passed red cedar
tree IN my walk and heard for the first
time this year rare performance of
the brown thrasher. He is the grand
opera singer among the birds and at his
best Is fully equal to the Southern mock
Ing bird. This afternoon ne was giving
one of his ventriloquial performances.
His voice sounded as IL he were a quar-
ter of mile away. although he sat not
ten feet off, and almost in whisper he
ran through every piece in his repertoire.
At times he would sing like n robin or
he would initiate the red-eyed vireo, then
he would trill and gurgle and run the
whole scale. 1t was wonderfully done
and every once in a while he would stop
and turn around to see IL were listen
Ing, for the thrasher loves an audience.
All of these and scores of others can
be heard any morning. Try 1t tomorrow
Get up and see how many different songs
you can hear and how many you know.