Show english singing birds reprinted from an article hy by theodore theodora noo roosevelt sevelt in the outlook by special arrangement with the outlook of which theodore roosevelt Hoo sevelt la Is contributing editor coltor copyright 1910 by the tha outlook company all rights reserved like most americans interested in birds and books I 1 know a good deal about english birds as they appear in books I 1 know the lark of shakespeare and shelley and the ettrick shepherd I 1 know the of milton and keats I 1 know words cuckoo I 1 know mavis and merile singing in tho the merry green wood of the old ballads I 1 know jenny wren and cock robin of the nursery books therefore I 1 have always much desired to hear tho the birds in real life and the opportunity offered last june As I 1 could snatch but a few hours from a 11 very exacting round of pleasures and duties it was necessary for me to be w with ith some companion who could identity identify both song and singer in ll 11 sir ou edward grey a keen lover over of outdoor adoor life in all its phases and a delightful companion who knows the songs ind ways of english birds as very few do know them I 1 found the best possible guide we left loudon london on the morning of june 9 24 hours before I 1 sailed from southampton getting oft off the train at basingstoke Basing stoke we drove to the pretty smiling valley ot of tho the itchen here we tramped for three or four hours then again drove this time to tho the edge of the new forest where wo we first took tea at an inn anti and then tramped through the forest to an inn on its other side at at the conclusion of our walk my companion made a list of the birds we had seen putting an asterisk opposite those which we had heard sing there were 41 of the tha former and 23 of the latter as follows thrush blackbird lark yellow hammer robin wren golden crested wren goldfinch pled Wag wagtail tall sparrow dunnock hedge accentor missel thrush starling rook jackdaw black cap garden warbler willow warbler chaff chaff wood warbler tree creeper reed breed bunting sedge warbler coot water ilen hen little grebe Dabe dabchick hick tufted duck wood pigeon stock dove turtle dove pee wit tit coal tit cuckoo nightjar swallow martin swift pheasant partridge the bird that most impressed me on my walk was the blackbird I 1 had already heard nightingales in abundance near lake como and had bad also listened to larks but I 1 had bad never heard either the blackbird the song thrush or the black cap warbler and while I 1 knew all three were good singers I 1 did not know what really beautiful singers they were blackbirds were very abundant and they played a prominent part in the chorus which we heard throughout the day on an every hand though perhaps loudest the following mor morning ning at dawn in its habits and manners the blackbird strikingly resembles our american robin and indeed looks exactly like a robin with a yellow bill and coal black plumage it hops everywhere over the lawns just as our robin does and it lives in nests in the gardens in the same fashion its song has a general resemblance to that of our robin but many of the notes are tar far more musical more like those of our wood thrush indeed there were wera individuals among those we heard certain of whose notes seemed to me almost to equal in point of melody the chimes of the wood thrush and the highest possible praise for or any song bird is to liken its song to to that t of the wood thrush or hermit thrush I 1 certainly do not think that the blackbird has received full justice in the books I 1 knew that it was a I 1 singer but I 1 really had no idea how fine a singer he was I 1 suppose one of hl hi troubles has been his bis name just as with our own cat bird when he appears in the ballads as the tha merle merie bracketed with his cousin tho the mavis tho the song thrush it la Is far easier to rec him as the master singer that he be is it is a fine thing for england to have such an asset of the country tide elde a bird so common so much in evidence so BO fearless and such a really beautiful singer the most musical singer we heard was the black cap warbler to my my ear its song seemed more musical than that of the tha nightingale it was astonishingly powerful for so small a bird in volume and continuity it does not come up to the songs of the thrushes and of certain other birds but in quality as an an isolated bit of melody it can hardly be surpassed among the minor singers the robin was noticeable we all know this pretty little bird from the books and I 1 was prepared to find him as friendly and attractive attract iveas aa he proved to be but I 1 had not realized how bow well be sang it was not a loud song but very mu and attractive and the bird la Is said bald to sing practically all through throng it the year tho the song bong of the wren inter ested me much because it was not in the iho least like that of our house wrens rens but on the contrary like that of our winter wren tho the theme la Is the same as the winter wrens but the song did not seem to me to bo be so brilliantly ran mil as that of the tiny singer of the north woods the sedge warbler in tho the thick reeds a mocking quill lay which reminded me at times of the less pronounced parts of our yellow breasted chats song the cul koos cry was singularly attractive aud and musical far more so than the rolling many times repeated note of our rain crow ten days later at sagamore Sagar Sag amoro noro hill 1111 I 1 I 1 was among my own birds and was much interested as I 1 listened to and looked at them in remembering the notes and actions of tho the birds I 1 had seen in england on the evening of the first day I 1 sat in my rocking chair on the broad veranda looking across the sound towards the glory of the tha sunset tho the thickly grassed hill side sloped down in front ot or me to a belt of forest front from which roso rose the golden leisurely chiming of the wood thrushes chanting their vespers through the still air came tho the carbe of vireo and tanager and after night fall we heard the night flight song ong s of an oven bird from the same belt of tim ber overhead an oriole sang 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 tobin robin had bad built its nest over the front and one over the back door and there was a chippis chip pys nest in the wisteria wl vino vine by the tha porch during tho the next 24 hours I 1 saw and heard either right around the house or while walking down to bathe through the woods the following 42 birds little green heron quail red tailed hawk yellow billed cuckoo kingfisher flicker hummingbird swift meadow lark red winged blackbird sharp tailed finch song sparrow chipping sparrow bish sparrow purple finch Balt Balti moil 11 oriole Cow bunting robin scarlet thrush thrasher cat bird st red eyed vireo yellow war bler bier black throated green warbler king bird wood pewee crow jay cedar bird lil maryland aryland yellow throat chickadee black and white creeper darn swallow white breasted asted swallow oven bird ves ve per pern finch indigo bunting towhee grasshopper sparrow and screech owl I 1 sent the companion of my english walk john burroughs birds anti and poets john burroughs life work E h beginning to have its full effect I 1 in many different lines when he first firs s wrote there were few men of letter in our country who knew nature at first hand now there are many who delight in our birds who know their songs songe who keenly love lova all that belong to out of doors life for instance mad ison cawein and ernest mcgathy Ale Gaffy have for rt 0 number of years written of our woods and fields of tho the birds and th flowers as only those can write who join to love of nature the gift of oti oli and the gift of description mr air cawell Is a kentuckian and an other kentuckian Kentuck lan miss alias julia stockton dinsmore in the little volume ot ol poems which she has just published includes many which describe with beauty and charm the sights and sounds so dear to all of us its who know american country life dinsmore knows kentucky and the gulf coast of louisiana and the great plains of north dakota and she ehe knows know also the regions that lie outside ol 01 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 well as the eyes of the body could have written the threnody curiously at in its simplicity and pathos patho with which the little book opens it contains many poems that make a slin liar ilar appeal the tha writer knows bill blue bird and robin redbird and field lark and whippoorwill just as she knows southern rivers and western plains she knows rushing winds and running waters and the sights and sounds or of lonely places and moreover s eap h knows and almost tells those hidden I 1 things of the heart which never find complete utterance THEODORE ROOSEVELT |