Wednesday, May 5, 2021

The seringo note



May 5.

Hear the seringo note.
Fringilla savanna

"Although this little Finch cannot be said to have a song,
 it is yet continually pouring out its notes.
 You see it perched on a fence rail, 
the top of a stone, or a tall grass or bush,
 mimicking as it were 
the sounds of the common cricket."
 ~ J.J. Audubon


H. D. Thoreau, 
Journal, May 5, 1861

Seringo note. See May 1, 1852 ("I hear the note of the shy Savannah sparrow (F. Savanna), that plump bird with a dark-streaked breast that runs and hides in the grass, whose note sounds so like a cricket's in the grass . . . The word seringo reminds me of its note , as if it were produced by some kind of fine metallic spring."); April 22, 1856 ("The seringo also sits on a post, with a very distinct yellow line over the eye,and the rhythm of its strain is ker chick | ker che | ker-char—r-r-r-r | chick, the last two bars being the part chiefly heard."); April 27, 1859 ("Hear and see the seringo in fields next the shore. No noticeable yellow shoulder, pure whitish beneath, dashed throat and a dark-brown line of dashes along the sides of the body."); June 26, 1856 ("[S]aw, apparently, the F. Savanna near their nests (my seringo note), restlessly flitting about me from rock to rock within a rod."); and notes to note to August 11, 1858 (" I heard there abouts the seringo note."); and December 7, 1858 ("Dr. Bryant calls my seringo (i. e. the faint-noted bird) Savannah sparrow.”) See also Guide to Thoreau’s Birds ("Thoreau frequently called the Savannah Sparrow Passerculus sandwichensis the seringo or seringo-bird, but he also applied the name to other small birds.")

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts Last 30 Days.

The week ahead in Henry’s journal

The week ahead in Henry’s journal
A journal, a book that shall contain a record of all your joy.
"A stone fruit. Each one yields me a thought." ~ H. D. Thoreau, March 28, 1859


I sit on this rock
wrestling with the melody
that possesses me.