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88

the cracking of ice when it is first tried because my ear was close up to the trunk.

A single Rusty Blackbird flew over singing and calling. The song rippled along smoothly for a few notes and then ended in a sudden bubbling outburst of music that ended as abruptly as it had begun.

By the coulee I scared up a Sparrow which lit on a bush just across from me. It had all the markings of Tree Sparrow but I wanted to see the spot on its breast as it might have been some other kind. But this the bird positively 

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would not allow me to do. It dodged around and hid in a tangle of honeysuckle so that I could not see it. Then it went in a brushpile were it was joined by another of the same species. I tried to work around so as to see them there but they flew into a willow some distance off where at last I got the view I wished and identified them as Tree Sparrows. They called to each other all the time and each call was answered.

By the river I saw a Song Sparrow in a thick tangle of bush. I stood directly above it and watched. It