Every morning at about 7 since late February, the cardinal has been singing its “Cheer, cheer, cheer” song in my yard. Now the American robin is singing, “Cheerily, cheerio,” adding to the growing ...

Those persons enjoy the most happiness, if possessed of a benevolent heart and favored by ordinary circumstances of fortune, who have acquired by habit and education the power of deriving pleasure ...

Our state bird — adaptable, amenable to sharing the landscape with humans, getting plump year-round on whatever invasive species is available — is out, hopping and a-bopping and a-singing its song.

poets and musicians, from Chaucer to Wordsworth, from Handel to Respighi. Birdsong can be a natural phenomenon of intense beauty. But our enjoyment is incidental to the main purpose, which is one bird ...