Hi Tweets,

Mary Shane writes:

>What's the bird I hear now in the forest that sounds like a tin penny
>whistle?

When playing the Irish music with which it's most associated by North
Americans, the penny-whistle's tone typically is introverted and
melancholic, conveying the sadness and desolation of a country which in its
fratricidal history has rarely known peace, freedom or stability. The forest
bird whose song most resembles those qualities-- did they have a different,
happier song before the European colonists began to clear the forests?-- is
the Varied Thrush Ixoreus naevius. If I saw as much destruction of my forest
home as these birds, I'd be tempted to keen as well.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net